PsiQuantum is getting a $125 million cash infusion from DARPA, the startup announced today, a new vote of confidence for its efforts to build the world’s first large-scale quantum computer.
PsiQuantum is part of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which started as a way to evaluate the legitimacy of quantum startups and could give investors comfort that the company is not headed down a blind alley.
“Their starting assumption was that quantum computing probably wasn’t going to work,” said Pete Shadbolt, PsiQuantum’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “And even if we were to build these machines, they’d be useless.”
PsiQuantum is trying to build a full-blown computer using photons as qubits, as opposed to other methods like neutral atoms and superconducting qubits — a choice that offers advantages and drawbacks. So far, just PsiQuantum and Microsoft have advanced to the final stage of DARPA’s benchmarking initiative.
Its cash infusion also comes with increased scrutiny and access, with DARPA scientists working essentially inside the company, peering over shoulders and trying to poke holes in the technology. “I would describe them as a benevolent red team,” Shadbolt said.
