PsiQuantum accelerating roadmap at Daresbury site

The co-founder and chief technologist of Silicon Valley-based quantum computing business PsiQuantum, which launched an R&D facility at Sci-Tech Daresbury last year, has spoken to Insider about the company's plans to accelerate its roadmap, and hailed the infrastructure and talent located at the site.

Launched in 2016 by four UK academics, PsiQuantum is focused on building "the world's first useful quantum computer".

The business, which now employs more than 250 people, established a base in Daresbury last October, which was backed by £9m in government funding.

Mark Thompson explained that quantum computing is a "completely new approach to computing and a completely new type of technology".

He said: "It allows you to answer questions to problems that were previously impossible to get answers to.

"We believe that this will unlock a whole new wave of innovation that will propel humanity to a new era of technology development and exploration."

The most immediate impacts, according to Thompson, will be in areas such as automotive, energy, healthcare and climate - particularly in the development and discovery of new materials.

For example, quantum computing can be used to explore and create new types of drugs and carbon capture materials.

While its benefits are obvious, "getting there is the challenge".

"To get to a useful quantum computer you need a very large machine", said Thompson.

"You need a machine with about one million physical cubits in it to be able to do something we call error correction and fault tolerance. It means you can run a big enough calculation, for long enough, to get a useful answer - and that needs to be a big machine.

"We are focusing 100 per cent of our resources on figuring out how to make that machine."

The company chose to set up a UK base for a host of reasons, including its "very good quantum ecosystem and talent".

"We stumbled across Daresbury and we realised it offered exactly what we were looking for.  One of the key things it had was this cryogenic infrastructure.

"Almost all quantum computer systems are required to operate at cold temperatures, and Daresbury has a giant cryogenics facility".

The site provides PsiQuantum with about 100 times more cooling power than it previously had access to.

"It's really allowing us to accelerate our roadmap and get to our next level of scaling."

Right now, the North West team is relatively small, but the business does want to expand its operations in the region.

"We'd love to continue to grow the activity and push the agenda within the UK and we're in conversations with the government on how they might support that", Thompson added.