A new path with Photonic Quantum Computing
Let there be light particles: what if the quantum breakthrough isn’t in electrons, but in light itself?
Is mining resources on the moon the next step to enable quantum computing? It’s the mission of the company Interlune, as they aim to become the first entity to mine the moon for Helium-3. When people imagine a quantum computer, the image that often comes to mind is a magnificent, chandelier-like structure of gleaming metal, dripping with wires and cooled to temperatures colder than deep space. This is the world of superconducting quantum computing. To operate they often rely on rare Helium-3 gas that can cost millions of dollars per kilogram. This extreme environment is necessary because electron-based qubits are incredibly sensitive to noise and electromagnetic interference, requiring massive, energy-hungry dilution refrigerators to function.
But beyond the glow of these cryogenic giants, a new approach is gaining attention, and might save you the trip to the moon. Photonic computing focuses on the light, as light particles can process information at room temperature.
Image credits: HUBERT RAGUET / C12 QUANTUM ELECTRONICS / LPENS / CNRS PHOTOTHÈQUE
What is quantum computing?
Quantum computing is a field that uses quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers. While standard computers use bits that are either 0 or 1, quantum computers use qubits. Because of a principle called superposition, a qubit can represent a 0, a 1, or a complex, weighted combination of both simultaneously. When these qubits are entangled, they create a multidimensional computational space where they can explore vast numbers of possibilities in parallel. This allows quantum computers to approach complex tasks in a fraction of the time it would take a classical computer.
In the table below we can see that there are different types of qubits (here are listed the most-studied and best-funded types) that can be used for quantum computing. Researchers are exploring various materials and methods to find the most effective balance of speed and stability. Adding to the complexity of this field, future quantum computers may marry multiple kinds of qubits together so that each component plays to its specific strengths.
An overview of some of the most-studied and best-funded qubit types. Image credits: N. Hanacek/NIST
Why are nations racing for “quantum advantage”?
Quantum physics is highly complex, as seen in the table above, there are a variety of types of qubits, each with their particularities, and the field of quantum computing is still in its early stage. Then why are there billions of dollars invested all around the globe to make quantum computing happen?
The nation that first develops a universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer will hold a decisive strategic advantage: the ability to break current encryption, simulate molecular interactions impossible for classical computers, and solve optimization problems exponentially faster which results in quantum advantage.
Quantum computing was our Zoom in the 2025 Digital Disruption Matrix because of its tremendous transformative potential. While it ranks behind Artificial Intelligence and Renewable Energy in immediate disruption scores (32.47/100), it is viewed with intense strategic interest across several key sectors such as financial services, healthcare, materials and energy. Its disruptive capabilities are expected to revolutionize science, with quantum computers that simulate molecules and materials, accelerate technological breakthroughs but are also a threat for today’s cybersecurity infrastructures.
For all these reasons, the race for quantum is a question of sovereignty and innovation power. This sentiment is the driving force behind a global government investment effort that now exceeds $55.7 billion, not including a massive wave of private capital. This funding is fueling a vibrant ecosystem of academic labs, startups, and national programs, aiming to be the first to unlock the quantum future.
Investment efforts around the globe in photonic and non-photonic quantum. Image credits: qureca.com, Quantum Initiatives Worldwide 2025, October 15, 2025.
While superconducting qubits currently dominate the quantum computing landscape but face hard limits, notably because of the cryogenic operation environment, some recent advances and initiatives, with the company Quandela delivering “Lucy”, “the most advanced photonic quantum computer worldwide”, or Canada’s investments in photonic quantum computing companies, photonic sparks interest on its potential.
What is photonic quantum computing?
Conventional computers and smartphones use moving electrons to process information, photonic computers instead harness the power of photons, which are light particles. By encoding and manipulating information using individual photons, these machines tap into the powerful laws of quantum mechanics to perform calculations. Information is encoded in properties of light, such as its polarization (direction), arrival time, or the continuous fluctuation of the light wave itself.
There are significant advantages of using photons over electrons or other qubits on networking quantum computers, manufacturing scalability by leveraging the semiconductor industry, speed and resistance to noise (photons are naturally isolated from environmental disturbances). But the number one advantage of photons is that many photonic systems can operate at room temperature, in contrast to superconducting qubits, the most common qubit in current quantum computing systems. This characteristic changes the accessibility and economics of quantum computing that demanded giant, complex and expensive cryogenic refrigeration systems.
Image credits: Digital Disruption Chair
Who are the key photonic quantum players and what are they focusing on?
Building on strong academic foundations, Europe has a thriving ecosystem, with some major players: Quandela (France), QuiX Quantum (Netherlands), ORCA Computing (UK) and Ephos (Italy). In October 2025, Quandela delivered Lucy to a major European computing center for hybrid use with supercomputers, according to the CEA. Europe’s strength is further bolstered by targeted initiatives like the EPIQUE project, which focuses specifically on establishing benchmarks for photonic quantum information processing. While broader efforts like the Quantum Europe Strategy aim to foster a sovereign ecosystem by 2030, they encompass multiple technological paths, including photonic.
In North America, the United States and Canada are in the race as well. The US-based PsiQuantum is pursuing an aggressive “lab to fab” strategy leveraging high-volume semiconductor manufacturing to build utility-scale, fault-tolerant photonic quantum computers. In Canada, the government’s Canadian Quantum Champions Program (CQCP), launched in December 2025, specifically supports photonic leaders like Xanadu and Photonic Inc. to anchor talent and innovation. Xanadu achieved a significant milestone with its Borealis processor, which demonstrated quantum advantage by performing a task in 36 microseconds that would take a supercomputer 9,000 years.
In Asia, Japan and China are driving the photonic quantum race. China marked a pivotal moment with its Jiuzhang series of photonic quantum computers, and is also moving toward industrial mass production, through the startup Turing Quantum and the CHIPX institute, which launched a pilot line capable of producing 12,000 six-inch photonic wafers annually. Japan is currently setting speed records through a partnership between NTT and the University of Tokyo. They succeeded in generating optical quantum entanglement at rates 1,000 times faster than conventional standards. This breakthrough is being commercialized by the startup OptQC, which partners with Exail to bring these powerful machines out of the lab.
Some important hurdles on the photonic path, from sourcing to manufacturing
Scalable photonic computing begins with the reliable generation of single-photon states. The industry faces a dual challenge: controlling high emission rates while ensuring “indistinguishability”, where every photon is a perfect clone of the next in terms of frequency and arrival time. While current leaders demonstrate indistinguishability levels exceeding 99.5%, achieving this consistently at scale is essential, as low-quality sources result in “punishingly low” success probabilities for qubit synthesis.
Once sourced, comes calculation, and with it, the most critical challenge for photonics: photon loss. In photonic computing, every photon counts. They are the carriers of quantum information, losing photons is losing information, potentially corrupting calculation. As photons travel through optical fibers, chips, and other components, some are absorbed or scattered, erasing the data they carry. Research from Xanadu quantifies the scale of this problem: to achieve fault tolerance, the component insertion loss (a measure of signal lost as a photon passes through a single optical element) must be improved by a factor of 20 to 30 times compared to the current state-of-the-art. Another technical barrier is that photons naturally pass through each other like ghosts, but computation requires them to interact, and forcing these interactions demands is incredibly difficult and relies on complex setups, creating a key obstacle to scalable photonic computing.
Image credits: imec’s wafer-scale low loss SiN photonics platform, initially developed for communication, now used in quantum computing
Finally for manufacturing, while photonics uses standard semiconductor foundries, the tolerance for error is unforgiving. Photonics operations are susceptible to fabrication errors, but if fabrication errors exceed a threshold of around 1%, the resulting computational errors become uncorrectable, no matter how many physical qubits are added to the system. Moreover, manufacturing millions of components that are not just functional, but identical in performance (e.g., thousands of switches with exactly the same loss rates), is an “outstanding challenge” for mass production.
Photonics: faster than expected, further to go
The photonic approach, with its promise of room-temperature operation and inherent scalability, points toward a vision of quantum computing that is far more accessible than today’s laboratory-bound machines and perhaps, one day, operating in something closer to a warm, ordinary living room than a cryogenic facility. For now, however, photonics remains just one of several competing paths toward an outcome that is itself still elusive: quantum supremacy. Progress has unfolded at a “pace nobody really expected”, but major technical and theoretical uncertainties remain.
This week’s curated news:
NRF 2026 New York marks a turning point for agent-driven commerce in retail
At the opening of NRF 2026, Google unveiled the Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard designed to enable AI agents to manage the entire shopping journey, from product discovery to checkout and after-sales service. Developed with major retail players like Walmart, Shopify, and Target, the protocol signals a shift away from traditional search.
Read more here
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health with dedicated medical workspace
The new experience creates a separate, privacy-focused space for health conversations, allowing users to connect medical records and wellness apps as more than 230 million people already ask health-related questions on ChatGPT each week.
Read more here
CES 2026, World’s most influential consumer tech event, highlights shifts in AI and robotics
This year’s CES highlighted a clear shift toward AI in the physical world, with intelligence embedded directly into machines, vehicles, and everyday devices. Hardware regained center stage alongside software, and robots moved from demos to real-world applications across industry and services.
Read more here
Anthropic nearly doubles valuation to $350B in new funding talks
The developer of Claude is seeking up to $10B in a round led by GIC and Coatue, nearly doubling its valuation from four months ago as AI investment momentum continues. The funding round follows a $13 billion investment in September that valued the company at $183 billion.
Read more here
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