Pete Shadbolt, CEO and co-founder of PsiQuantum, discusses the company's recent funding milestone bringing total private capital to nearly $2 billion. PsiQuantum is building large-scale quantum computers using photonic technology, with major facilities planned in Australia and Chicago.

The conversation covers PsiQuantum's contrarian approach of targeting million-cubit systems directly rather than incremental scaling, their partnership with Nvidia, and the complex global supply chain spanning from Global Foundries in New York to custom materials production in Silicon Valley.

Shadbolt addresses the timeline controversy sparked by Jensen Huang's comments about quantum computing being 15-30 years away, explaining how semiconductor industry scaling principles could accelerate quantum development, and discusses the geopolitical implications of quantum computing for cryptography and national competitiveness.

The Billion-Dollar Bet on Million-Cubit Quantum Systems

PsiQuantum has raised close to $2 billion in private capital, more than any other quantum computing company, with investors including BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, and Temasek.

The company rejected the incremental approach of building small quantum systems, instead committing "fully 100% committed to realizing a very large machine" from the start.

"The general consensus is that you need more like a million cubits to do anything commercially impactful with a quantum computer" while Google has demonstrated systems of about 100 cubits - Pete.

PsiQuantum's approach mirrors rocket development rather than ladder-building: "You got to get to the moon. And now ladders don't really look like the right way to do it" - Pete.

Jensen Huang's Quantum Timeline Controversy and Nvidia Partnership

Jensen Huang initially said quantum computing was 15-30 years away, but "Jensen says you need a million cubits" - correctly identifying the scale requirement.

Shadbolt countered Huang's timeline by pointing to XAI's Colossus supercomputer: "100,000 GPU cluster in 112 days, which is a miracle" showing 10,000x scaling is possible quickly.

Nvidia is now strategically involved with PsiQuantum, working on quantum software (CUDA-Q), hardware components, and evaluating PsiQuantum's photonics for AI supercomputer networking.

"We make some of the best photonics in the world and that's pretty relevant for networking and AI supercomputers" as copper wires become untenable for huge systems - Pete.

Global Manufacturing Infrastructure and Supply Chain

PsiQuantum operates an 80% US-based supply chain involving hundreds of companies, with over $100 million invested at Global Foundries in upstate New York over 8 years.

Global Foundries facility spans 450,000 square feet with "25 minutes to walk from one corner of the room to the other corner" containing billions of dollars in semiconductor tools.

The company built custom materials production in San Jose with "the biggest molecular beam epitaxy tool in the world ever" to create materials that "nobody else can make on a giant wafer."

PsiQuantum uses Stanford Linear Accelerator's 36,000-watt helium cryoplant, located "right opposite Lightspeed" on Sand Hill Road, for testing quantum systems.

Australia and Chicago Quantum Computing Campuses

Australia site will host the first large-scale quantum computer by end of 2027, built "just outside Brisbane airport" as part of a $1 billion Australian government deal.

Chicago facility is being built on a former US Steel site that "used to make a million tons of steel a year" during WWII, now serving as anchor tenant of a $500 million quantum campus.

Both sites require "roughly 100 megawatt, multi-thousand square foot sites" with "about 100 tons of hardware" including helium liquefiers - a "multi-year exercise" to commission.

The timeline is "mostly determined by infrastructure" - digging, concrete, and metal cutting rather than AI acceleration, according to Shadbolt.

Quantum Computing's Commercial Applications and Revenue Model

"A single million cubit quantum computer would outperform the net total of conventional computing on the entire planet" for chemistry, materials science, and drug discovery problems - Pete.

PsiQuantum will operate as a cloud service rather than selling systems: "Selling a 100,000 square foot system is dangerous and stupid" but "selling time on it is really natural."

The company plans vertical integration beyond cloud services: "Why are we not capitalizing on that ourselves?" by hiring drug discovery and materials science teams.

Target applications focus on "small molecule drug discovery, catalysts, basically small hard molecular or reaction chemistry material science problems" with 50-person applications team.

Cryptography, Geopolitics, and National Security Implications

"If you build a big enough quantum computer, you can break most of the encryption, public key encryption that we currently use on the internet. That's a fact" - Pete.

The good news: "You still need a bigger computer to do code breaking than you do to tackle the commercially useful applications" - economic value comes before cryptographic threat.

DARPA conducted extensive red-team evaluation: "50 scientists and engineers" tasked to "kill quantum computing companies" over multiple years, with PsiQuantum reaching final phase.

PsiQuantum takes security seriously as "quantum computing is a dual-use sovereign strategic capability" with red-team IT systems and three-letter agency collaboration.