Principal Laser & Optical Project Engineer - Photonic Modules

Quantinuum finalizes $100M CHIPS R&D award with US Commerce dept. September 8, 2026 Press play to listen to this content WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2026 - Quantinuum today announced it has finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce's CHIPS Research and Development Office for $100 million in federal funding deployed through the CHIPS and Science Act. The award, which follows a letter of intent announced in May, supports R&D and U.S. quantum semiconductor manufacturing capabilities needed to deploy large-scale, fault-tolerant trapped-ion quantum computers. Quantinuum, which was the only company with a trapped-ion based architecture to be awarded CHIPS R&D funding, develops the world's most accurate commercial computers with industry-leading error correction fidelity. The company leverages established semiconductor manufacturing processes to help ensure reliability, repeatability, and scalability of the company's current and future quantum computers. "This award is a validation of Quantinuum's leadership in trapped-ion quantum computing," said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President and CEO of Quantinuum. "Together with our domestic partners, we are building the technology and supply-chain foundation needed to scale fault-tolerant systems and strengthen America's leadership in this strategically important field." The award will support R&D that the company expects to help strengthen and diversify its supply chain, adding onshore partners GlobalFoundries and Monarch Quantum. GlobalFoundries will be one of several of Quantinuum's foundries enlisted to fabricate its next-generation ion traps and other electronics, specifically focused on using 300mm wafer technology; Monarch Quantum plans to develop and manufacture scalable, reliable lasers and optical components required for Quantinuum's trapped-ion systems. "As quantum computing moves closer to commercial scale, manufacturing will be critical to unlocking its full potential," said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries. "GlobalFoundries is proud to partner with Quantinuum to help scale their trapped-ion technology. By bringing our expertise in high-volume, differentiated semiconductor manufacturing, we're helping create a path to more scalable, reliable quantum hardware and advancing the next generation of American innovation." "The road to large-scale, trapped-ion quantum computers relies on moving away from complex, sprawling optical setups to scalable, reliable integrated photonics engines," said Dr. Timothy Day, CEO of Monarch Quantum. "We are honored to expand our partnership with Quantinuum to advance their hardware roadmap and to help strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum computing manufacturing and supply chain resilience." Together, these efforts are intended to reduce system complexity and improve component robustness, reliability, and reproducibility, ultimately supporting the continued scaling of trapped-ion quantum computers, while strengthening domestic capability across critical photonics and semiconductor manufacturing. About Quantinuum Quantinuum (Nasdaq: QNT) is a leading quantum computing company offering a full-stack platform designed to make quantum computing deployable in real-world environments. The company has commercially deployed multiple generations of trapped-ion based quantum systems built on the well-established QCCD architecture, which it has implemented with novel designs and capabilities to achieve the industry's highest accuracy levels based on average two-qubit gate fidelity. Quantinuum has active engagements with market leaders across pharmaceuticals, material science, financial services, and government and industrial markets, as well as academic and research institutions globally. The company has a global workforce of over 800 employees, including top scientists and researchers. Quantinuum's headquarters is in Broomfield, Colorado, with additional facilities across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Qatar, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.quantinuum.com. IBM has made its Nighthawk r2 quantum processor available through the IBM Quantum Platform, with... The recently launched Genesis Mission includes a wide range of projects aimed at using advanced... Scientists running large simulations can end up with terabytes of data that then has to... Prior to the June International Supercomputing Conference, ISC High Performance 2026, in Hamburg, Germany, Sean... Over the past several days, a steady stream of Genesis Mission announcements has arrived from... The International Supercomputing Conference, ISC High Performance 2026, drew a record 4,035 attendees and 188...

Qunnect and Monarch target scalable quantum network hardware. Qunnect and Monarch Quantum have announced a partnership to develop modular, miniaturized entanglement distribution hardware for quantum networks, aiming to reduce system size and cost through advanced photonic manufacturing techniques Qunnect and Monarch Quantum have announced a collaboration focused on advancing the engineering and manufacturing of entanglement-based quantum networking hardware. The partnership aims to address a persistent challenge in quantum communication: how to transition laboratory-scale entanglement distribution systems into compact, robust, and cost-effective devices suitable for deployment in real-world environments. Integrated photonics and system miniaturization. The joint effort will combine Qunnect's field-tested entanglement distribution technology with Monarch Quantum's expertise in photonic system engineering and automated manufacturing. Qunnect's current Carina platform integrates photon sources, polarization compensators, and single-photon detectors within a 36U rack-mounted system. The companies plan to develop modular variants of this platform, targeting a reduction to a 2U or 3U form factor. Achieving this level of miniaturization will depend on integrating non-cryogenic photon detectors and leveraging Monarch's robotic assembly processes, which are designed to improve optical alignment and reduce photon loss compared to manual assembly. Manufacturing scale and engineering constraints. Monarch Quantum is expanding its manufacturing capacity, with a move to a 60,000 square foot facility in San Diego and an 8,000 square foot clean room scheduled to house 20 to 25 robotic assembly stations by September. The use of machine-vision guided robotics is intended to deliver more precise and repeatable photonic packaging, a critical factor in reducing optical losses and improving device reliability. These engineering advances are expected to lower both the cost and physical footprint of quantum networking hardware, but the practical impact will depend on the integration of all system components and the ability to maintain performance under operational constraints such as temperature, vibration, and power limits. Deployment environments and use cases. The next-generation hardware is being designed for environments where size, weight, and power are tightly constrained, including satellites, defense platforms, remote infrastructure, edge computing, and telecommunications. Qunnect has indicated that future products may include specialized versions of the Carina platform, such as the Orian system, tailored for applications like Quantum Position Verification (QPV) and quantum-based network security monitoring. These use cases require not only robust entanglement distribution but also reliable operation in challenging field conditions, which places additional demands on packaging, thermal management, and system integration. Context in quantum networking development. The push to commercialize quantum networking hardware comes amid broader efforts to move quantum technologies from laboratory demonstrations to scalable, deployable systems. Similar challenges in scaling quantum photonic devices have been reported by other companies and research groups, as seen in recent efforts to expand quantum dot laser production for optical interconnects in data centers-an area explored in coverage of Innolume's manufacturing expansion. The transition from prototype to manufacturable product remains a central hurdle for the field, with device yield, reproducibility, and integration of high-performance detectors and sources as ongoing engineering bottlenecks. Entanglement distribution is a foundational capability for quantum networks, enabling protocols such as quantum key distribution, quantum teleportation, and distributed quantum sensing. In practice, the performance of these systems is limited by photon loss, detector efficiency, and the stability of optical alignment. Integrated photonics offers a pathway to reduce these losses and improve scalability, but the engineering required to package and align components at scale remains nontrivial. As quantum networking hardware moves toward commercial deployment, the ability to manufacture reliable, miniaturized, and cost-effective systems will be a decisive factor in determining which technologies reach operational status beyond the laboratory.