GlobalFoundries Upgrades for Silicon Photonics in Quantum Computers

(AnAndTech) New proprietary manufacturing tools have been installed into GlobalFoundries’ most advanced facility in Malta, New York as part of a new partnership between GlobalFoundries and PsiQuantum. This will enable GF to build silicon photonics to enable what could be a 1 million+ qubit quantum computer from PsiQuantum.
PsiQuantum’s goal is to be in a position to assemble a final photonic qubit quantum computer by mid-decade.
Over the last few years,GlobalFoundries has developed its customized processes, such as 22FDX and 12FDX which are cost-effective FDSOI technologies for low power embedded applications, such as RF or mid-tier IoT, and even that has optimizations for higher performance modes (at the expense of efficiency) should a customer need it.
GlobalFoundries is expanding its manufacturing portfolio in a very different way than it has previously. In partnership with PsiQuantum, part of the Fab 8 facility in Malta and the Fab 1 facility in Dresden have new proprietary equipment specifically for the production of core quantum computer components. PsiQuantum’s goal is its Q1 system, a 1 million+ photonic qubit quantum computer, which needs critical semiconductor components to function. PsiQuantum lists single-photon sources and single-photon detectors (the silicon photonics part), and control circuitry to scale into a quantum computing solution. The Photonics will be built in Fab 8, while the control chips will be built in Fab 1.
GlobalFoundries is currently owned by Mubadala, the UAE sovereign wealth investment fund, but is looking at a potential IPO in the US in the next 12 months or so. PsiQuantum is a 2016 private startup based in Palo Alto, with over $500m in venture capital funding, ~100 employees, and investors such as Playground Global, BlackRock, M12, and C4 Ventures.