QpiAI opens ‘Asia’s largest’ quantum chip foundry, targets 10,000-qubit processors

Quantum computing firm QpiAI opened its "Asia's largest" quantum chip foundry in Bengaluru, India, on Monday. The new facility, located at Jakkur, is capable of manufacturing flip-chip superconducting processors with up to 128 qubits. A third phase of the foundry, scheduled to complete in 2027, will potentially increase its capacity to produce a quantum processing unit (QPU) containing up to 10,000 physical qubits.

Nagendra Nagaraja, founder and CEO of QpiAI, stated that the company will handle the entire device manufacturing process at the Bengaluru facility, including lithography, etching, patterning, assembly, and packaging. He explained that conventional semiconductor foundries are not equipped to produce the specialized devices required for quantum computers, necessitating QpiAI's investment in manufacturing capabilities alongside processor design.

The foundry will also manufacture peripheral chips and sensors for quantum computers. QpiAI plans to conduct research into photonic and semiconductor qubits using the facility, employing superconducting transmon and fluxonium-derived qubits for production deployments. Qubits, or quantum bits, are the fundamental units of information in quantum computers, and their quality, error rates, connectivity, and ability to work together are crucial factors in determining a quantum computer's usefulness.

The company has already fabricated four processors, including the 8-qubit QVidya, 25-qubit Indus, 64-qubit Kaveri (based on transmon qubits), and Yukti, a 9-qubit processor based on its variation of fluxonium technology. Yukti has demonstrated potential in the development of error-corrected logical qubits, which use multiple physical qubits and error-correction techniques to store quantum information more reliably.

QpiAI's foundry is part of the company's 70,000-square-foot research and development center, which also houses QPU testing and quantum-solutions development facilities. Nagaraja announced that most of the center was already operational, with the remaining sections expected to be commissioned in 2027. The company has invested approximately $20–25 million in the foundry so far and plans to invest an additional $10–15 million, with the aim of localizing more of its supply chain as it scales.

QpiAI's Quantum Supremacy Centres (QSCs) will combine error-corrected quantum processors with clusters of AI chips. The foundry will support the development of processors with 10,000 physical qubits and eventually connect multiple processors to create larger quantum computing systems. QpiAI plans to initially target the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the US for exports, with the company's first QSC planned on a 10-acre site with around 300,000 square feet of built-up space.