Aussie quantum firm Diraq snags US defence contract

An Australian quantum computing company has joined forces with international partners to take on an ambitious challenge from the US military's research agency.

Sydney-based Diraq announced on Thursday it secured a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to participate in a program aiming to build a useful quantum computer by 2033.

The Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) will test whether Diraq's approach – using silicon spin qubits based on the same manufacturing methods used for today's computer chips – could deliver a quantum computer worth its hefty price tag.

Andrew Dzurak, Diraq's founder and CEO, said his company aims “to design, build, and deploy the world's first truly utility-scale quantum computer” by leveraging existing chip manufacturing techniques.

While quantum computers have long promised revolutionary advances in fields from medicine to materials science, they remain expensive laboratory projects with limited practical applications. DARPA's program seeks to change that within the decade.

Diraq isn't going it alone. The company has assembled an international dream team including fellow Australian firm Emergence Quantum, founded by former Microsoft researchers Professor Reilly and Dr Ohki, and UK-based Riverlane, which specialises in quantum error correction – the crucial technology needed to make quantum computers reliable enough for real-world use.

“Quantum error correction is essential for scaling quantum computing from hundreds of reliable operations to the billions or trillions needed for commercial applications,” explained Steve Brierley, Riverlane's CEO.

Diraq also maintains partnerships with major chip manufacturers, including US-based Global Foundries, though they're not formal consortium members for this project.

If successful, the team's work could help usher in a new era of computing power capable of solving problems beyond the reach of today's most powerful supercomputers.

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