Nord Quantique, a scaleup company and leader in the field of quantum error correction, today announced two new partnerships to secure its supply chain long-term, as it relates to chip fabrication for its quantum computers. Both partners are located within the emerging “Northeast Semiconductor Manufacturing Corridor,” a region dedicated to the production of microelectronics and quantum microchips. This territory runs from New York to Montreal, spanning the border between New York State and the Canadian province of Quebec. Dozens of companies in this area will play a key role in reshoring semiconductor manufacturing here in North America over the coming years.
Nord Quantique has signed a memorandum of understanding with the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI) in Bromont, Quebec. C2MI offers world-class infrastructure dedicated to the manufacturing of advanced semiconductors, compound semiconductors and electronic systems, as well as printable electronics and other advanced technologies. The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY CREATES), which manages and operates the most advanced non-profit led 300mm semiconductor and quantum R&D facility in North America, and has been at the forefront of semiconductor innovation for more than two decades.
“This is an important milestone for Nord Quantique as we continue to advance on our journey developing fault tolerant quantum computers. Establishing partnerships with these key stakeholders today will help ensure we have access to facilities where we can produce a secure supply of microchips from reliable sources, when we need them. We believe this will provide us with a significant advantage over the years to come, both in terms of access and cost, as quantum systems continue to scale up,” said Michel Pioro-Ladrière, Vice-President of Partnerships and Strategy at Nord Quantique. “Enhancing our fabrication, packaging and testing processes while ensuring a seamless and robust value chain, will put us in an enviable position in the industry.”
These partnerships will bring complementary benefits to Nord Quantique. It will work with C2MI for industrial-grade fabrication of superconducting qubits using specialized tools. The company will also collaborate with NY CREATES for scalable, predictable fabrication of qubits utilizing CMOS manufacturing tools for comprehensive testing and scale-up. Ready access to these types of facilities can often be challenging for companies looking to produce small batches of chips with unique specifications. The partnerships being announced today are designed to help the company first identify precisely what will be needed, and then ensure that production can be executed in a timely fashion to meet the company’s stringent requirements for reliability, repeatability and scalability.
Marie-Josée Turgeon, CEO at C2MI, added, “This new addition to our expanding collaborative ecosystem reflects our essential role as an R&D centre. This partnership sets the stage for future projects that will merge C2MI’s expertise in advanced packaging and industrial microfabrication with Nord Quantique’s groundbreaking innovations in superconducting qubits.”
Today’s announcements mean Nord Quantique is safeguarding its supply chain. And by securing access to these key strategic components, the company now removes an important element of risk from its long-term growth strategy.
“The growing collaboration between NY CREATES and Nord Quantique leverages the unique strengths of each organization,” said Dr. Satyavolu Papa Rao, NY CREATES Vice President for Research. “The deep expertise of NY CREATES researchers related to the fabrication of quantum devices in our state-of-the-art 300mm fab is coupled with the innovative design for quantum computing chips that Nord Quantique has pioneered, showcasing some of the synergies within the Northeast Semiconductor Manufacturing Corridor.”
These partnerships build on existing synergies within the DistriQ quantum zone, which have enabled Nord Quantique to pioneer the development of its error-corrected quantum computing architecture and advanced qubit manufacturing. This has facilitated the successful demonstration of qubit error-correction using bosonic codes and shows a clear path towards achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing while significantly reducing the number of qubits required to do so. This synergy also led to the company’s capability to overcome the demanding challenge of fabricating high performance superconducting circuits, a crucial component in its quantum architecture.
Nord Quantique’s latest initiative aligns closely with ongoing efforts in the U.S. and Canada to fortify robust, dependable supply chains for components of advanced technologies, including error corrected quantum computing.