U.S. government grants $25 million to support development of optical quantum computers

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer has won a $25 million grant to support chip foundry GlobalFoundries and quantum computing company PsiQuantum to develop next-generation quantum computers, according to the Times Union. These Computers will surpass today's state-of-the-art systems.

GF is working with PsiQuantum to develop one of the fastest quantum computers in the world. U.S. Senator Majority Leader Charles Schumer has secured $25 million for the two companies to continue working with the U.S. military to develop the technology.

GF and PsiQuantum in Palo Alto, Calif., have been working on developing quantum computers that operate using photons, or light.

The U.S. government has been conducting research on quantum computing at the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force Quantum Information Science Research Center in Rome, Oneida County, NY, and work done by GF and PsiQuantum in quantum computing will be supported by new funding from Schumer further development.

Charles Schumer

Quantum computers are largely theoretical, operating on the idea that certain physical properties of atoms can be used to make computations infinitely powerful. They use special atoms called "qubits" that can exist not only in the states of binary "1" and "0" signals, but in a combination of the two. Even the most powerful computers in use today operate with multiple combinations of these "1" or "0" signals, with intermediate states enabling exponentially accelerated computing power. According to PsiQuantum, these computers would have to be very large, even the size of an industrial building.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES and PsiQuantum have been collaborating on optical quantum computing for years and announced a technological breakthrough in May 2021: when they announced that they had developed a photonic "reader" that would be able to obtain qubits and integrate them into computing devices that will also use conventional silicon photonics-powered chips.

“The next frontier of quantum computing technology is being developed in upstate New York. I am proud to provide $25 million in federal funding for the expanded partnership between GF and PsiQuantum to support the cutting-edge research being conducted at the Rome Lab, Create new jobs and secure America's future as a leader in cutting-edge technology," Schumer said, adding that China is striving to build the world's first practical quantum computer before the United States, and the research and development of quantum computers will be closely related to the national strategy.

Link:

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Schumer-gets-GlobalFoundries-25-million-grant-17061411.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-business-package