Silicon Quantum Computing secured a $20 million investment from the National Reconstruction Fund via a SAFE note, marking an injection into Australia's sovereign deep-tech capabilities.
The capital arrives as part of an ongoing funding round aimed at industrialising SQC's proprietary "PAQMan" process—a Precision Atom Qubit Manufacturing technique lauded as the world’s most precise semiconductor fabrication method.
The NRF joins an elite registry of existing shareholders, including Telstra, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, UNSW, and the NSW government.
This follows a $25 million federal investment in 2017. SQC’s unique atomic-level manufacturing allows for the design and testing of new quantum chips in under a week, a pace that has already yielded tangible results; the technology recently slashed training times for Telstra’s AI models from weeks to mere days and supported the Department of Defence through its emerging technology accelerator.
The company remains a global frontrunner, recently advancing to Stage B of the US DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative alongside local rival Diraq.
Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres noted, "This investment backs Australian ingenuity and ensures world-leading quantum technologies are designed, built, and commercialised here at home."
NRF CEO David Gall highlighted the firm's competitive moat, stating, "Australia leads the world in quantum computing, and SQC’s in-house manufacturing allows the company to iterate significantly faster, and with greater accuracy, than its competitors."
"From day one, SQC's mission has been clear: To build the world’s first commercial-scale quantum computer in silicon, right here in Australia," added SQC CEO and founder Michelle Simmons.