R&D Engineer

Brookhaven Lab and PsiQuantum collaborate on Quantum Genesis research. September 2, 2026 Press play to listen to this content Collaboration aims to develop advanced quantum algorithms and applications in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Quantum Genesis initiative UPTON, N.Y., Sept. 2, 2026 - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and PsiQuantum today announced a collaboration that will leverage PsiQuantum's software platform "Construct" to support Brookhaven Lab scientists researching new algorithms and scientific applications for the first generation of fault-tolerant quantum computers. Brookhaven's Associate Laboratory Director for Discovery Technologies Gabriella Carini. Photo credit: Tim Kuhn/BNL. "We are excited to partner with PsiQuantum to give our researchers access to these new tools," said Brookhaven Lab Associate Laboratory Director for Discovery Technologies Gabriella Carini. "DOE's new Quantum Genesis initiative requires innovative partnerships across our national labs, industry, academia, and government. This is a great example of one such collaboration." The Quantum Genesis initiative is focused on developing and deploying the world's first fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computing capability for research and development by 2028. Quantum Genesis will serve as a foundational element of DOE's broader artificial intelligence-focused Genesis Mission, which is designed to usher in a new era of computational power for the nation to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation. "We are excited to partner with Brookhaven National Laboratory to use these tools in support of its research into fault-tolerant quantum algorithms and applications," said PsiQuantum Vice President of Government Relations Heath Bumgardner. "Through this partnership, we're demonstrating how effective public-private collaboration can help accelerate scientific discovery." PsiQuantum's Construct software platform is the first comprehensive platform designed to help companies, researchers, and the public sector create fault-tolerant quantum algorithms, which are computational procedures designed to operate effectively on utility-scale quantum computers once these systems are built and deployed. Construct represents years of development by PsiQuantum's quantum applications team, which created a suite of tools for new algorithm development to help solve some of the world's leading quantum application challenges. Fault-tolerant algorithms can help advance research in materials science, pharmaceutical research, and cryptography, among other areas. In May 2026, PsiQuantum announced that Construct is now available as a free and open-access platform, allowing researchers to design quantum circuits, write and simulate quantum algorithms, and optimize resources. About Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov. About PsiQuantum PsiQuantum was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The company's mission is to build and deploy the world's first useful quantum computers. PsiQuantum's photonic approach enables it to leverage high-volume semiconductor manufacturing, existing cryogenic infrastructure, and architectural flexibility to rapidly scale its systems. Learn more at www.psiquantum.com. 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... Oratomic, a quantum computing startup that emerged from stealth just four months ago, has raised...

New technology park faces backlash. August 24, 2026 At the site of the former U.S. Steel South Works plant, a team of investors, professors, and CEOs envision a sprawling, 128-acre campus that will become a national hub for quantum computing innovation. Construction for this facility - the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) - began last fall. While supporters of the IQMP claim the influx of tech giants will stimulate the local economy and create jobs, critics argue that the park will create environmental and ethical concerns. Officials call it "history-altering," but residents say the development will cause destruction in more ways than one. Any large-scale development brings environmental concerns, and the IQMP is no exception. These issues are exacerbated, though, by the park's planned location and tenants' computing demands. The park will be built on the former site of U.S. Steel South Works, which raises concerns about leftover contamination like steel byproducts and contaminated soil. In addition, the development of several quantum computing facilities could make matters worse. The campus will require massive amounts of energy just to run the buildings, which, when compounded with the need for computing power, will drive up energy costs. Similarly, future tenant Related Digital plans to build a data center on the campus, which would inevitably require high amounts of water and power. Beyond the IQMP's environmental costs, the tenants themselves are also a cause of frustration. Anchor tenant PsiQuantum has partnered with the Air Force, the Department of Defense, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), and Lockheed Martin to provide quantum computing technology for warfare. DARPA, part of the Department of Defense, plans to partner with several of the IQMP's investors. Other tenants include IBM (a company with longstanding military partnerships), Infleqtion (which received $2 million from the US Army to apply machine learning to warfare), and Diraq (a quantum computing company partially funded by DARPA). Another tenant that has caused concern is Quantum Machines, an Israeli quantum computing company. Particularly concerning is Quantum Machines' partnerships with the Israeli government, such as the Israeli Quantum Computing Center at Tel Aviv University. In the past, Quantum Machines has also received direct funding from Israel's Defense Ministry. Across the IQMP's major investors, it's clear that a large portion of the innovation and discovery that will take place there will end up contributing to war and destruction worldwide. AI has already become heavily embedded in defense systems, blurring the line between human and machine-made decisions. This makes it increasingly difficult to hold people accountable for wartime crimes, such as America's actions in Iran. When the US bombed a school in Iran, killing nearly 200 children, people were quick to place the blame on AI, when in reality, the blame should be placed on the people who didn't bother to check what or who they were targeting and the people who started the (illegal) war in the first place. The acceleration of computing developments through the IQMP would effectively allow military officials to get away with anything, as they could easily place the blame on AI - even if that wasn't the case. Despite the destruction quantum innovation would bring once further incorporated into the military, the IQMP's investors claim that the development will benefit people through creating new jobs and revitalizing the economy. Southside Together, an organization of South Side residents, says otherwise: the facility's construction is intertwined with both environmental justice and the rights of residents. They list concerns about water usage, power demands, and pollution, as well as displacement and surveillance. They also argue that no one wanted or asked for the park to be built-a referendum demanded by residents was removed from the ballot-and that the massive budget for the park could be invested in community resources rather than in surveillance and warfare in order to benefit the working class instead of warmongering officials. Unlike what investors claim, the only people who would benefit from the IQMP are CEOs and war profiteers. When profit is prioritized over ethics, resources that could be invested in communities and addressing inequality are instead used for destruction. The IQMP will force people out of the communities they've lived in for generations through gentrification, cause pollution, raise utility prices, exacerbate existing infrastructure and inequality problems, and overall hurt, not help, the community, despite promises of jobs and economic benefits.

PsiQuantum adds Atomico founder Niklas Zennström to board of directors. August 11, 2026 Niklas Zennström PsiQuantum has appointed Atomico founder and CEO Niklas Zennström to its board of directors as the Palo Alto, California-based quantum computing company advances utility-scale projects in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. Zennström, who co-founded Skype and served as its CEO before launching venture capital firm Atomico in 2006, succeeds Siraj Khaliq on the PsiQuantum board. Khaliq joined the board in 2019 when Atomico first invested in the company. The appointment extends the relationship between Atomico and PsiQuantum while adding an executive with experience scaling technology companies to the board as PsiQuantum moves from research and component development toward the infrastructure and deployment required for large-scale quantum computing. "PsiQuantum is taking on one of the most ambitious and important technology challenges of our time," Zennström said. "Atomico has partnered with the company for years and watched this team build technologies beyond the state-of-the-art. It is thrilling to see them now execute and scale." Founded in 2016, PsiQuantum is developing a photonic quantum computing architecture designed to take advantage of existing semiconductor manufacturing processes. The company's strategy centers on building fault-tolerant systems at sufficient scale to address commercially relevant computing problems. That creates an engineering and infrastructure challenge substantially different from demonstrating smaller experimental quantum systems. PsiQuantum must scale the components used to create and manipulate photonic qubits while integrating them into systems capable of operating reliably at much larger volumes. The company is using silicon photonics and high-volume semiconductor manufacturing as part of that approach. Its modular architecture is intended to allow individual components to be improved while the overall system and deployment footprint expand. PsiQuantum is currently advancing major projects in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, including planned utility-scale quantum computing facilities in Chicago and Brisbane. The projects pair the company's technology development with the physical infrastructure needed to operate large quantum systems and involve partnerships with governments and industry. Zennström's appointment follows several other changes to PsiQuantum's leadership structure. In July, the company named Victor Peng CEO after he had served as interim CEO since February. It also appointed Rob Soderbery executive vice president and Sriram Sitaraman chief information officer. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan joined PsiQuantum's board in April. "Niklas has a proven track record of turning an ambitious technology vision into a successful business at scale," Peng said. "Atomico has been a committed partner to PsiQuantum for years, and Niklas brings a rare combination of founder experience, global perspective, and conviction in deep technology." The board additions come as execution increasingly depends on disciplines beyond quantum research. Building utility-scale systems requires coordination across semiconductor manufacturing, cryogenic infrastructure, systems engineering, supply chains and the construction and operation of dedicated computing facilities. PsiQuantum's strategy is based on reaching fault tolerance at scale, a capability needed to perform longer and more complex calculations while correcting errors inherent in quantum systems. The company is targeting potential applications in areas including chemistry, materials science and energy, although delivering those applications depends first on building machines capable of running sufficiently large and reliable workloads. Co-founder and Executive Chairman Jeremy O'Brien said Zennström's experience investing in and building technology businesses will support the company's focus on developing commercially useful quantum computing. For PsiQuantum, the near-term challenge is increasingly one of industrialization: converting advances in photonics and quantum architecture into manufacturable components, integrating those components into large systems and deploying the supporting infrastructure at dedicated sites. Zennström joins the board as that work expands across multiple countries. His appointment gives Atomico a continuing board presence while adding experience in technology commercialization and company scaling as PsiQuantum moves further into the capital- and infrastructure-intensive phase of building utility-scale quantum computers.