NVIDIA has invested in two quantum companies within a week.

The quantum computing unicorn PsiQuantum has completed a $1 billion financing round, and its valuation has risen to $7 billion. It plans to deliver its first commercial-grade quantum computer with one million qubits by the end of 2027.

On Wednesday local time, the quantum computing unicorn PsiQuantum announced the completion of a new $1 billion financing round and set its most aggressive mass-production schedule to date: to deliver its first commercial-grade quantum computer with one million qubits by the end of 2027.

This financing round was led by existing investors BlackRock, Temasek Holdings, and Baillie Gifford, with new institutional investors such as the venture capital arm of NVIDIA and the Qatar Investment Authority participating. After the financing, PsiQuantum's valuation rose to $7 billion.

Notably, just last Thursday, NVIDIA also invested in another quantum computing company, Quantinuum. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang adjusted his expectations for quantum computing this year. He said in June that quantum computing technology is reaching an inflection point and will become a practical computing method earlier than expected.

PsiQuantum also disclosed a strategic partnership with NVIDIA, focusing on integrating quantum hardware with AI chips and jointly developing quantum algorithms that can run on GPUs.

Recently, financing in the global quantum computing sector has been heating up: Finnish quantum computing startup IQM completed a new $320 million financing round and joined the unicorn club; US-based Infleqtion went public through a SPAC, with a valuation of $1.8 billion.

"I think this is a statement from the investment community. Capital is staking its claim and announcing that the game of quantum computing has officially begun," said Jeremy O'Brien, co-founder and CEO of PsiQuantum.

Quantum computing is expected to completely rewrite the underlying logic of industries such as pharmaceuticals, finance, communications, and cryptography. Different from many competitors that take a "from small to large, gradual expansion" approach, PsiQuantum has chosen a more aggressive strategy: directly building a quantum computer with one million qubits that can perform fault-tolerant operations. Fault tolerance means that the system can automatically correct inevitable microscopic errors during the calculation process and continuously output reliable results.

PsiQuantum said that a quantum computer deployed in Brisbane, Australia, is expected to go online by the end of 2027. Part of the financing will also be used to build large-scale testing systems and accelerate the production of key materials.

Luke Ward, a private investment manager at Baillie Gifford, said that PsiQuantum's advantage lies in its mature manufacturing capabilities and its ability to rely on the existing semiconductor supply chain. Currently, PsiQuantum's quantum computing chips are produced at the GlobalFoundries factory in New York State.

Ward also pointed out that the current focus is shifting to the next major challenge: how to ensure that the market can actually use these systems when quantum computers are put into production. "Having the hardware in place is just the ticket. The real deciding factor is quantum software and algorithms." PsiQuantum has simultaneously collaborated with enterprise customers to build the application layer, and its cooperation with NVIDIA covers a "quantum + GPU" hybrid programming framework.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily", author: Niu Zhanlin. Republished by 36Kr with permission.