One of the world’s largest cryoplants ever commissioned for a quantum computer will be built and tested offshore before being installed at PsiQuantum’s mammoth manufacturing facility in Brisbane later this decade.
German chemicals and engineering giant Linde has been commissioned to deliver the cryoplant that will cool the error-corrected quantum computer being built by the Californian quantum startup.
The agreement represents a “major milestone” in PsiQuantum’s ambitious Australian project, which is facing setbacks with planning approval for the proposed facility at Brisbane Airport.
It comes less than three months after the company said it had reached the point of “mass-manufacturable chips”, allowing it to start rapidly scaling its technology with a view to building million-qubit-scale systems by the end of 2027.
The cryoplant, or cryogenic cooling plant, will cool the cryogenic cabinets containing “tens of thousands” of photonics chips to the “ultra-low temperatures” needed for fault-tolerance.
PsiQuantum’s phonics qubits run at around at around 4 Kelvin, or -270 degrees Celsius – a significantly warner temperature than the millikelvins that matter-based qubits require.
It means the company can use established cryogenic technology, delivering it a “fundamental scaling advantage”, according to chief executive and co-founder Jeremy O’Brien.
“Photons don’t feel to heat the way matter-based qubits do. Our systems can run 100 times warmer – and we appreciate collaborating with a world-class firm like Linde Engineering to deliver industrial-scale systems with proven technology,” he said.
The cryoplant will be constructed and tested in Germany before being installed in Brisbane, although neither company has provided any timeframe for when this might occur. It is deemed “critical” to the success of the quantum computer.
Linde, the world’s largest industrial gas supplier, has installed more than 500 cryogenic plants, serving chip makers and other scientific applications across the world.
“We are proud to help PsiQuantum realise their ambitious vision for quantum computing,” John van der Velden, Linde’s senior vice president of global sales and technology, said.
PsiQuantum is targeting the end of 2027 for its Brisbane manufacturing and production facility to be operational – the same year that it hopes to have its first error-corrected quantum computer up and running.
But that timeline is under threat, with Brisbane Airport only kicking off public consultations on the development in early April, Infrastructure department officials confirmed at Senate Estimates.
The two-month consultation precludes any application being submitted to the department, which has a statutory requirement to approve the application within 50 days unless insufficient information is provided.
The company, which is set to raise at least US$750 million (A$1.2 billion), had previously said it would break ground at the site before July. It now expects construction will get underway later in 2025.
PsiQuantum’s sister project in Chicago, where it will deliver its second utility-scale quantum computer by 2028, has already received final zoning approval.
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