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In April, Australia’s government committed US$620m to support PsiQuantum’s plans to build the world’s first “useful” quantum computer (QC), in Brisbane. Being picked ahead of 20 rivals after a two-year appraisal was a huge vote of confidence in the US firm.
Furthermore, having a ‘utility-scale’ QC operational before the decade’s end should give PsiQuantum a first-mover advantage in tackling previously impossible problems for Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Chemical and a queue of other interested parties.
Why the excitement? Classical computers carry out calculations in 1s and 0s. By contrast, QCs rely on qubits, which can be in multiple states simultaneously. This lets them model the world in much greater detail, particularly at the subatomic level governed by quantum mechanics.
Historically, researchers have struggled to scale the technology because qubits are notoriously susceptible to ‘noise’, which causes computing errors, and the hardware has been difficult to manufacture.
PsiQuantum’s solution involves using light in the form of photons, which are resilient to interference. And its chips can be made in existing semiconductor factories.
We first invested in PsiQuantum in 2019. Its success could lead to fundamental breakthroughs in biology, chemistry and physics, leading to lower-cost energy, more effective medicines and better ways to fight climate change, among other advances.
The consultancy McKinsey sees the QC market being worth up to $131bn by 2040. That’s partly guesswork, but the sum is believable given today’s spend on high-performance computing and the broader research and development budgets at play.
Hear more from Luke Ward about PsiQuantum in his stock story video.
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