PsiQuantum to build utility-scale quantum computer in the US
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The news: Quantum computing company PsiQuantum has announced it will build the first US-based utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Chicago as part of a "far-reaching" partnership with the State of Illinois, Cook County, and the City of Chicago.
The numbers: The Illinois state budget for the fiscal year 2025 includes USD500 million ($765 million) committed to the development of the newly established Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), including USD200 million for the build-out of a cryogenic plant to serve the cooling needs for PsiQuantum and other potential users.
PsiQuantum will be the anchor tenant of the site with its Quantum Computer Operations Center spanning over 300,000 square feet and additional acreage for future expansion.
The California-based company has also agreed with the State, Cook County, and the City of Chicago to a package of incentives totalling more than USD500 million over 30 years to enable the company to rapidly move towards the build-out and commissioning of the Quantum Computing Operations Center.
In April, the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland governments announced a USD620 million financial package for PsiQuantum to build the first utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Brisbane.
The context: Under the new agreement, PsiQuantum will anchor the IQMP, with the aim of catalysing the state’s quantum ecosystem, which already includes the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, the Chicago Quantum Exchange, Argonne and Fermi national labs and DARPA, the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project Agency and others.
PsiQuantum said that "it is widely acknowledged that a utility-scale quantum computer will need on the order of 1 million qubits", a number necessary to achieve the critical threshold for quantum error correction.
The commissioning of such a system will enable highly precise answers for computational problems that can never be solved by conventional computers, the company noted.
The agreement aims to help Illinois’ critical industries — including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, energy, materials, financial services and manufacturing — benefit from new quantum computing capabilities.
What they said: PsiQuantum CEO and co-founder Jeremy O’Brien said: "Quantum computers have held theoretical promise for decades, but it’s infrastructure projects like the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park that are required to develop this technology and scale from hype to reality".
"Governor Pritzker and Illinois understand what’s needed to unlock quantum computing’s potential, and we’re thrilled to partner with them and anchor the state’s quantum strategy with the first utility-scale quantum computer in the United States at this iconic location," he said.
The source: PsiQuantum media release
