Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
One of the world’s largest cryogenic cooling plants will be built in Brisbane, Australia as part of constructing the first large-scale quantum computer.
An agreement has been announced between the quantum computer builders, US company PsiQuantum, and Linde Engineering – a global industrial gases company based in Europe.
Quantum computers promise to spark a new revolution in computing power. A moderately-sized quantum computer could easily outperform even the most powerful supercomputers based on classical silicon chip technology.
But the quantum bits, or “qubits”, in quantum devices are still riddled with errors due to interactions with the external environment. These interactions also increase as temperature increases.
So, most quantum computing hardware requires very cold temperatures to function – just a few degrees Celsius above absolute zero (-273°C).
Linde has signed an agreement to cool PsiQuantum’s new quantum hardware to the required -269°C.
In February, PsiQuantum released for the first time results which they say show the company is ready to build a “useful” quantum computer by 2027. The major development was the construction of a set of photonic chips called “Omega”.
While matter-based qubits – qubits based on electron spins or ions – require temperatures within a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, qubits based on photons – light particles – can be a little less frigid.
“Photons don’t feel to heat the way matter-based qubits do,” says PsiQuantum co-founder and CEO Jeremy O’Brien in a news release. “Our systems can run 100 times warmer… This is a fundamental scaling advantage and a key reason we are able to move rapidly toward utility-scale quantum computing.”
Building such a device is not cheap.
Investment in PsiQuantum’s quantum computer from the Australian federal government and Queensland state government combined comes to about A$1 billion. The facility will require a warehouse-sized computing building which will be similar in size and layout to a datacentre. Attached to this building is the cryoplant. See PsiQuantum’s site blueprint here.
The engineers say building a useful quantum computer is worth all the effort.
“This technology will help design solutions to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by society today,” says Linde Engineering’s senior vice president of Global Sales & Technology John van der Velden.
A useful quantum computer operating with millions of qubits with minimal errors could see major developments in climate modelling, drug discovery, clean energy, advanced materials and even artificial intelligence software.
