PsiQuantum CEO discusses quantum computing progress and chip manufacturing bet

[TheRizz00]

Bloomberg sat down with PsiQuantum CEO Victor Peng to talk quantum computing progress, and its a genuinely useful check in on a company that has taken a very different bet than most of its rivals, betting everything on photons as qubits and existing semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure rather than exotic new hardware

Peng, who took over as interim CEO from co-founder Jeremy OBrien earlier this year after spending years leading AMDs adaptive and embedded computing group, emphasized the companys unique architecture inherently addresses scaling challenges other platforms struggle with because PsiQuantum builds its photonic chips through conventional chip fabs rather than requiring bespoke exotic fabrication processes

The company has partnered with GlobalFoundries to manufacture its Omega chipset at standard industry wafer sizes on a mature 45 nanometer process, and PsiQuantum says its already achieved manufacturing yields matching standard semiconductors, with co-founder Pete Shadbolt previously telling Reuters were right now making millions of them in GlobalFoundries, which is a genuinely different maturity signal than most quantum hardware companies can point to

This mass manufacturability angle is central to PsiQuantums whole pitch, rather than treating quantum chip production as a bespoke research lab exercise, they want to leverage the trillion dollar semiconductor industrys existing standards, supply chains and decades of investment, essentially betting that photonics is the pathway that lets quantum hardware ride the same manufacturing curve that made classical computing cheap and scalable

PsiQuantum is currently building a massive facility at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago, backed by over a billion dollars including 500 million in Illinois state funding championed by Governor JB Pritzker, with operations expected to start around 2028, and the company has also struck partnerships with Nvidia on silicon photonics and AI supercomputing plus Airbus and Lockheed Martin on potential applications

Peng and the broader PsiQuantum team have consistently pushed back against the idea this is all hype, framing genuine breakthroughs as the start of a decade or more of hard, unglamorous technological development rather than a single moment where a new technology suddenly arrives fully formed

Psiquantum Ceo On Quantum Computing Progress Chip Space Videowww.bloomberg.com

[GatewayDrifter]

The bet on mass manufacturability through existing semiconductor fabs rather than exotic bespoke processes is genuinely the most interesting differentiator here, if it actually scales the way they claim that could be a real competitive moat over rivals stuck doing artisanal chip production

[Zach]

Making millions of chips already at GlobalFoundries is a genuinely different maturity signal than most quantum companies can claim, though millions of chips doesnt automatically mean millions of usable qubits once you account for yield and defect rates at scale

[LuckySentinel]

Half a billion in Illinois state funding for a single quantum computing facility shows just how seriously state governments are now taking this as an economic development play, not just a speculative science project anymore

[Nina81]

Leadership transition from founder Jeremy OBrien to a semiconductor industry veteran like Victor Peng right as the company moves into serious manufacturing and deployment phase makes a lot of sense, thats exactly the skillset needed for this next stage

[Pipeline Courier]

Breakthroughs precipitate a decade or more of hard work quote from earlier interviews is honestly the most grounded and credible thing Ive heard from any quantum computing executive, most companies oversell the imminent timeline way more aggressively than this

[Henry25]

The Nvidia partnership on silicon photonics and AI supercomputing is an interesting crossover, suggests PsiQuantums manufacturing expertise might have applications and revenue streams beyond pure quantum computing while the fault tolerant machine is still years away

[Chris27]

Betting the whole company on riding the existing semiconductor manufacturing curve is smart in theory but photonic quantum computing has genuinely different physics challenges than classical chips, not sure manufacturing maturity alone solves the harder quantum engineering problems

[Pilot]

2028 for the Chicago facility to start operating is a specific enough target that its going to be a real accountability moment for the company, either they deliver something genuinely useful by then or this becomes a cautionary tale about overpromising

[Cosmos Builder]

The core thesis that photonics lets quantum hardware benefit from the same manufacturing scaling that made classical computing cheap is genuinely compelling if true, thats the kind of structural advantage that could matter more long term than any single qubit count or fidelity number

[Nina81]

Airbus and Lockheed Martin partnerships suggest real institutional interest from aerospace and defense in whatever PsiQuantum eventually delivers, though partnership announcements this early usually reflect optionality and hedging more than confirmed near term deployment