Highlights:

  • The company plans on developing silicon-based quantum processors that can be developed at existing fabs or chip plants.
  • According to the company, the improved speed at which Bloomsbury processor can be measured is the outcome of newly designed chip.

Quantum Motion Ltd., a London-based quantum computing startup, raised a fresh funding worth USD 50.5 million, i.e., £42 million.

Quantum Motion recently announced the funding. As reported by the startup, the industrial giant Robert Bosch AG led the investment along with the participation of British Patient Capital, Automaker Porsche SE, and six other investors.

James Palles-Dimmock, Chief Executive Officer at Quantum Motion, said “The support of leading technology investors enables us to realize our vision of a quantum computer built using standard foundry processes. This support, along with the continuing U.K. national quantum program and European initiatives, provides a step-change in our capabilities. We have assembled a world leading team and with the funding and support in place, we are ready to scale and deliver on our vision.”

The company is planning on developing silicon-based quantum processors that can be developed at existing fabs or chip plants. The technology used by the startup to manufacture processors is CMOS, a semiconductor manufacturing method to produce memory chips and devices such as mobile modems processing radio signals.

Bloomsbury, the first ever processor of Quantum Motion, occupies a surface area of three square millimeters. The processor uses quantum dots as quantum bits (qubits). Quantum dot, a compact semiconducting structure, usually measures a few nanometers and can manipulate light and electricity.

Central processing unit, a conventional chip, stores data in the form of electricity. The Bloomsbury chip of the company also follows the same data storage pattern but with a different approach than that of traditional computers.

This chip encodes data into the individual electron’s spin. A property of subatomic particles called spin, can be modified and measured, making it useful for data storage. Various spin states of the qubit correspond to various data values.

Bloomsbury chip consists of 1028 quantum dots, with each of them containing an electron that works as a qubit. During the last year’s test, Quantum Motion successfully read the data stored by Bloomsbury chip’s qubits in just 12 minutes. The company claims this to be a new speed record in the process.

The quick measurement of data in qubits is essential for multiple foundational computing operations, such as reading the calculation results. Accelerating the process can thereby enhance quantum computers’ performance.

According to the company, the improved speed at which Bloomsbury processor can be measured is the outcome of newly designed chip. Generally, the qubits’ measurement takes place with many wires integrated into a quantum chip. Quantum Motion claims that Bloomsbury uses as minimum as nine wires.

Simplifying the development of large-scale quantum machines is another significant advantage of the company’s approach. The lower number of wires in a quantum chip provides enough free space to add more qubits. With increased number of qubits, the performance also increases.

The company will use the newly acquired USD 50.5 million funding for its development efforts. Besides, it is planning to triple the London headquarters’ size and work in association with manufacturing partners.