初創公司 PsiQuantum 表示正在製造數百萬個量子計算晶片

 Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

Startup PsiQuantum says it is making millions of quantum computing chips

Reuters - Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis

Wed, February 26, 2025 at 8:45 a.m. PST·2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - PsiQuantum said on Wednesday it had cracked one of the crucial challenges in quantum computing: a method to manufacture quantum chips at the volumes needed to build commercially viable machines.

Quantum technology has the potential to perform types of calculations that would stump even the most powerful artificial intelligence systems that use Nvidia chips and could unlock a host of scientific and commercial applications, including cybersecurity. The technology may help in drug discovery and in materials research.

But mass manufacturing of quantum computing chips has been a difficult problem to solve. Seeking a solution, PsiQuantum's founders decided almost 20 years ago to pursue an approach that could be made using photonics, the same semiconductor manufacturing technology widely used in the communications industry.

The company spent ensuing years working closely with chip factories to engineer its chipset, called Omega, which is now ready for production, PsiQuantum Chief Executive Jeremy O'Brien told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"This isn't a breakthrough, this is actually something that has gone out of the research lab, and that is the highest level of maturity that you can achieve," O'Brien said, referring to bringing a quantum chip to mass production.

The company has partnered with GlobalFoundries to fabricate the chips at the latter's Albany, New York, factory.

PsiQuantum's method uses chip industry-standard foot-wide wafers on GlobalFoundries' 45-nanometer process and has achieved manufacturing yields that match standard semiconductors, according to PsiQuantum's Chief Scientific Officer Pete Shadboldt.

"We're right now making millions of them in GlobalFoundries," Shadboldt said.

PsiQuantum published findings related to the mass-manufacture of its Omega quantum chips in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday.

The Palo Alto, California-based company's quantum computing technology manipulates particles of light, or photons, to perform the quantum calculations. The light-based approach has several advantages, such as deploying significantly less complex mechanisms needed to cool its quantum devices, according to O'Brien and Shadboldt.

O'Brien told Reuters in 2023 the company planned to target a commercial quantum computer within six years. He said on Tuesday in the interview the company expects to complete a facility with the ability to perform commercial applications by roughly 2027.

Last week, Microsoft showcased a quantum chip that took a different approach but said that it shows such computers are "years not decades" away. And after a significant breakthrough that Alphabet Inc's Google announced in December, the search company said earlier this month commercial applications could arrive within five years.

PsiQuantum said in 2023 it had a valuation of $3.15 billion.

Translation

初創公司 PsiQuantum 表示正在製造數百萬個量子計算晶片

（路透社）- PsiQuantum 週三表示，它已經破解了具有量子計算的一個關鍵挑戰：一種以製造商業上可行機器所需的數量來生產量子晶片的方法

量子技術有可能執行多種運算，這些運算甚至會難倒使用 Nvidia 晶片的最強大的人工智慧系統，並可以解除包括網路安全在內的一系列科學和商業應程式中的限制。該技術可能有助於藥物研發和材料研究。

但量子運算晶片的量產一直是個難以解決的難題。為了尋求解決方案，PsiQuantum 的創始人在近 20 年前就決定尋求一種可以使用光子學的方法，同樣半導體製造技術已在通訊產業中廣泛應用。

PsiQuantum 執行長 Jeremy O'Brien 週二接受路透社採訪時表示，該公司隨後幾年與晶片工廠密切合作，設計出名為 Omega 的晶片組，目前已準備好投入生產。

O'Brien 在談到量子晶片的量產時表示： “這並不是什麼突破，實際上這只是走出實驗室的研究成果，也是目前可以達到的最高成熟度。”

該公司已與 GlobalFoundries 合作，在後者位於紐約州Albany的工廠去生產晶片。

PsiQuantum 首席科學官 Pete Shadboldt 表示，PsiQuantum 的方法是在 GobalFoundries 45納米的工藝上使用芯片行業標準的英尺寬晶圓，並實現了與標準半導體相匹配的製造產量。

Shadboldt 表示： “我們目前在 GlobalFoundries 的生產量是數以百萬計。”

PsiQuantum 週三在科學期刊《自然》上發表了有關其 Omega 量子晶片量產的研究結論。

這家總部位於加州的 Palo Alto公司的量子計算技術,可以操縱光粒子或光子來進行量子計算。據O'Brien 和 Shadboldt 表示，基於光的方法有幾個優點，例如部署去冷卻量子設備所需的機制要簡單得多。

O'Brien 在 2023 年向路透社透露，該公司計劃六年內推出商用量子電腦。他在周二的採訪中表示，該公司預計將在 2027 年左右建成一座能夠進行商業應用的設施。

上週，微軟展示了一款採用不同方法的量子晶片，但它表明這種電腦的誕生還需要「幾年而不是幾十年」的時間。繼 Alphabet Inc 旗下的谷歌於 12 月宣布重大突破後，這搜尋公司本月稍早表示，商業應用可能會在五年內到來。

PsiQuantum 在2023 年表示，其估值為 31.5 億美元。

       So, PsiQuantum says that it has cracked one of the crucial challenges in quantum computing: a method to manufacture quantum chips at the volumes needed to build commercially viable machines. I am wondering how this will impact on the manufacturing of quantum computers.