To secure a spot in the increasingly fierce quantum race, the Australian government recently announced an investment of nearly $1 billion for quantum computer development.
PsiQuantum, a quantum technology company, is headquartered in the United States and was founded by a team including two Australian researchers. The company has received funding of 470 million Australian dollars from the Australian federal government and the Queensland state government, totaling 940 million Australian dollars (613 million US dollars). In return, PsiQuantum will build and operate several generations of quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia.
Stephen Bartlett from the University of Sydney in Australia stated that this announcement signifies Australia's claim to have autonomous research and development capabilities in quantum computing, establishing a quantum technology ecosystem.
"The scale of investment shows that we are serious," Bartlett said. While large tech companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft have already invested billions of dollars in quantum computing, Australia's move positions PsiQuantum as one of the world's largest specialized quantum computing companies.
Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain tasks faster than any classical computer. So far, this capability has only been demonstrated on problems without practical applications. However, as research teams in the US, China, and other countries compete to build more powerful and fault-tolerant computers, there is hope to prove its utility.
Australia's Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley, stated that this is a topic worth exploring and researching. In a statement, she mentioned that the project will ensure that "we are at the forefront of the global race to build the first useful quantum computer."
Many teams are building superconducting-based quantum computers, while PsiQuantum's approach involves photons, which have been considered challenging to scale. Previously, PsiQuantum researchers published a paper detailing how they use standard semiconductor manufacturing tools to create the photon chips needed for quantum machines.
Irfan Siddiqi from the University of California, Berkeley, pointed out that Australia is leveraging its strengths in quantum theory and photonics.
