With $30 million in new funding, SEEQC believes chips are the key to creating useful quantum computing.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that “very useful quantum computers” are probably still out there. 20 yearsbut his company is also hedging its bets outside of classic chips investments and partnerships in that very place.

Now, one of Nvidia’s quantum development partners is announcing funding. SEEQCquantum computing startup has raised $30 million in funding, co-led by Booz Allen Ventures and Japanese-European VC firm NordicNinja, with participation from new backer SIP Capital and some existing investors. “It’s a combination of financial, geographic and strategic reinforcement,” SEEQC CEO John Levy said of the Series A expansion.

SEEQC is part of an emerging category of startups learning how to make the most of classical computing to drive quantum processors. This will be essential for managing large numbers of qubits, the basic units of quantum computing, as well as for building hardware suitable for data center and enterprise needs.

SEEQC — whose name is pronounced “scalable, energy-efficient quantum computing” and “seek” — believes that the key to reducing the complexity of today’s quantum hardware is to have chips that can power all the core functions of a quantum computer. . For example, SEEQC is much needed because it allows controlling multiple qubits with a single cable.

It cannot be denied that existing prototypes often looked as bulky as ordinary computers in the early days of IT. Levy thought of Google’s announcement ability to correct errors his Willow quantum chip was “fantastic” – but he couldn’t help but notice at the same time the amount of cables participates.

“We need to see those (types of announcements), but we also need to see from a systems engineering perspective, the ability to troubleshoot cabling, speed, latency, cost, etc., the traditional things you have to be able to do. building large-scale systems. And if we don’t do that, we won’t be able to scale truly enterprise-grade quantum data centers,” Levy said.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has already highlighted the critical need for more energy-efficient data centers, where quantum can become a reality, while also unlocking new applications such as accelerating the development of new materials and new pharmaceuticals.

This explains why the German chemical company BASF recently joined the SEEQC-led and UK-backed organization QuPharma project In collaboration with Merck, exploring how quantum computing can accelerate the drug discovery process. “These companies know that quantum will be central to their business,” Levy said.

It also explains why Merck’s corporate venture capital arm, M Ventures, invested in SEEQC. in 2020then other investors including EQT Ventures and LG Technology Ventures rounded out SEEQC’s backing $22.4 million before this final round.

It is next to SEEQC Collaboration with Nvidia. The collaboration, announced in 2023, aims to build an “all-digital, ultra-low-latency chip-to-chip connection between quantum computers and GPUs” that will be compatible with all quantum computing technologies when created.

The new funding will help the startup accelerate the commercial deployment of its chips and improve its capabilities. But SEEQC is already ahead of what you’d expect from a 2019 startup, since it’s made by a chip company. Hypresitself was created by former employees of IBM’s superconducting electronics division.

“We actually started with a mature technology, our own foundry — we run a very specialized foundry for the types of chips we build — a core team of people who built the IP and all the superconducting systems, primarily US government users,” Levy said.

Since then, the company has tripled the size of its team, based partly in London, UK and in Naples, Italy, where the first version of the chip was built; but mainly in Elmsford, New York, where it now plans to expand its chip foundry.

Quantum promises aside, it also resonates with growing demand for a chip supply chain resilient to geopolitical tensions, particularly those involving China.

As different companies attack this problem from different aspects photonic, silicon-based chips and trapped ion qubits. Which approaches will prevail remains to be seen, but Levy is convinced that it is important to think beyond qubits. “We need to have a common system architecture that can really take us where we need to go, and chips will be at the heart of that.”