Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) plans to manufacture quantum computing optical chips with encryption, authentication, and quantum entanglement distribution capabilities at a commercial level to make hybrid classical-quantum computing more accessible.

“Our goal and the bigger roadmap for us is we currently have our desktop quantum computer and the elements of what we're doing here are effectively the same. But I plan on putting all that capability onto a chip, which then can be plugged into the back of a normal computer so you can actually go hybrid pretty quickly,” QCI Chairman and CEO Robert Liscouski told SDxCentral.

“And distributing these chips in these capabilities at a commercial level we think is where there's going to be significant uptake in the marketplace,” he added.

Additionally, the company is taking a platform approach that includes encryption, authentication, and quantum entanglement capabilities, aiming to secure communications, computing, and authentication.

“This platform approach is intended to be able to layer encryption with authentication, with entanglement distribution so it goes back to the secure transport layer, the ability to do peer-to-peer authentication, and the encryption in between,” Liscouski explained.

Currently, QCI offers those capabilities at a small scale and plans to take advantage of government funding to commercialize those technologies and scale up the manufacturing process, Liscousk noted.

The quantum computing manufacturer announced in October that it plans to construct and operate a quantum nanophotonics technology manufacturing and research center to expand its current chip development.

QCI is negotiating “several offers of federal, state, and regional funding incentives to help finance the project and advance quantum innovation,” according to the company. It expects to raise $30 million from those incentives that include the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The act aims to provide more than $200 billion over the next decade to fund domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors to compete with Chinese production, including $39 billion in manufacturing incentives and $13 billion to support new research and development.

“The CHIPS Act does offer a fair amount of funding for R&D. And we fall into that spectrum ... with the photonic quantum chip. We haven't gotten any promises for money yet, but we're going out for that very aggressively, working with the states to put a package together that could be considered to be funded,” Liscouski said. “The chip development for us is at the core for everything that we're doing … and I'm gonna be doing this whether I get the funding or not ”

Photo: Robert Liscouski. Source: Quantum Computing Inc.