AMD plans equity investment in quantum computing firm PsiQuantum

Advanced Micro Devices is taking an equity stake in PsiQuantum, the quantum computing company it already works with, as part of an expanded partnership to build infrastructure for utility-scale quantum machines. The investment size was not disclosed 1

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Chips and light

The division of labor is straightforward. The chipmaker, which supplies processors for data centers and AI systems 1

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, will provide CPUs, GPUs, adaptive computing technology and software. PsiQuantum, founded in 2016 and based in Palo Alto, builds fault-tolerant quantum computers with a light-based approach, and contributes its silicon photonics platform 3

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. That platform combines standard chip manufacturing with optical networking that moves data as pulses of light 4

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Together they will design the computing infrastructure quantum systems need and build applications that pair quantum computing with high-performance computing and AI 3

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. The companies said they expect the outcome to be the world's most powerful hybrid computing fabric 2

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The investment formalizes a collaboration that was already underway. PsiQuantum already runs its drug-research workflow on the chipmaker's hardware and uses its Versal chips. Per one outlet, the new deal adds Instinct GPUs, CPUs and ROCm software 2

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. One piece of joint work predates the investment. PsiQuantum tuned a machine-learning tool that corrects the errors quantum computers constantly produce, so it runs fast on the chipmaker's reprogrammable Versal chips. It fixes errors in real time inside large photonic quantum machines. The companies linked a research paper 3

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Drug discovery is the first focus of the partnership, according to the companies 2

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. "The combination of PsiQuantum's workflow with AMD's GPU expertise running large-scale simulation has delivered initial breakthrough results in simulation of covalent inhibitors, a class of molecules relevant in drug discovery for oncology," the companies said in a joint statement 1

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Government money already on the table

PsiQuantum is not short of government backing. In May, the US Commerce Department announced plans to take minority stakes in nine quantum companies under a $2 billion CHIPS Act program, including $100 million for PsiQuantum. In October, the Pentagon offered it a conditional $150 million loan 1

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. The new investment stacks private capital on top.

The deal lands in a busy stretch for the chipmaker. It agreed in October to invest $1 billion in Meta and reported a record quarter last week 2

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. The chipmaker's chief technology officer, Mark Papermaster, said the deal extends a long record of combining computing technology with engineering partnerships 3

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. "We see that same opportunity with quantum computing, where leadership in classical computing is essential to building systems at scale," he said 2

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PsiQuantum's chief executive, Victor Peng, put the ambition more broadly: "Quantum computing will enable solving problems in healthcare, materials, energy, finance, and other domains that are out of reach today, working in concert with AI and high-performance computing" 2

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AMD and PsiQuantum may expand the work in Chicago, where PsiQuantum is the anchor tenant of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park 3

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. More is to be shared at a supercomputing conference in Chicago that runs 15 to 20 November 2

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