Quantum Computing Startup Raises $215 Million for Faster Device

The technology industry has spent decades trying to puzzle out the basis of a quantum computer. Such a machine, powered not by the simple on/off choreography of conventional transistors but by the ethereal forces of quantum mechanics, would allow for calculations on a scale inconceivable with today’s fastest processors. Engineers, mathematicians, and scientists talking about the theoretical applications of quantum computers make them sound like magic wands—capable of unlocking huge troves of secrets about our physical world and advancing civilization in dramatic ways. If only we could build one.

PsiQuantum, a 5-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Calif., says it’s well on its way to creating a commercial quantum machine, the boldest claim to date among a legion of hopefuls in the field. It has raised $215 million to build a computer with 1 million qubits, or quantum bits, within “a handful of years,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy O’Brien tells Bloomberg Businessweek. While the qubit figure will mean little to people outside the industry, it’s considered the breakthrough point for making a true, general-purpose quantum computer that would be broadly useful to businesses. As such, PsiQuantum’s machine would mark a major leap forward and deal a devastating blow to rival projects by the likes of Google, Honeywell, IBM, and a sea of startups and university labs. “If they are really able to pull this off, it immediately distinguishes them and puts them in a completely different field so far ahead of the competition,” says Peter Rohde, a Future Fellow at the Centre for Quantum Software & Information at the University of Technology Sydney. “This strikes me as incredibly exciting.”