National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Invests $20M AUD ($14M USD) in Silicon Quantum Computing

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) has invested $20 million AUD ($14 million USD) in Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) to accelerate Australia’s sovereign semiconductor and quantum manufacturing capabilities. This investment is part of a larger funding round intended to scale SQC’s proprietary atomic-scale manufacturing process and anchor a globally competitive quantum industry in Sydney. The move aligns with Australia’s National Quantum Strategy, which projects that the domestic quantum sector could reach a valuation of $6 billion and support approximately 19,400 jobs by 2045.

SQC utilizes a unique "bottom-up" fabrication approach known as PAQMan™ (Precision Atom Qubit Manufacturing), which allows for the production of quantum chips with atomic precision. This proprietary technology enables the company to design, manufacture, and test new quantum chips in under one week, an execution speed that significantly outpaces traditional semiconductor foundry cycles. By maintaining a fully in-house manufacturing pipeline, SQC focuses on delivering high algorithmic fidelity and qubit quality, moving toward the goal of a fault-tolerant, commercial-scale silicon quantum computer by 2033.

The company has two active products in the commercial market: Watermelon™, a quantum machine learning (QML) system, and Quantum Twins™, a quantum simulator designed for molecular and materials discovery. These systems have already been deployed across sectors including energy, logistics, and telecommunications; notably, Telstra reported a substantial reduction in model training times using the Watermelon processor. Furthermore, SQC is one of only 11 companies globally to advance to Stage B of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), a program that identifies architectures with the highest potential for utility-scale performance.

Founded in 2017 by Professor Michelle Simmons AC at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), SQC currently employs over 100 personnel in Sydney. The NRFC’s equity stake joins a consortium of existing investors, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Telstra, and the Australian Commonwealth and NSW governments. This latest capital injection will support the expansion of the company's technical workforce in quantum engineering and chip design, strengthening the infrastructure required for the domestic production of next-generation atomic electronics for defense and pharmaceutical applications.

For technical details on the PAQMan™ manufacturing process and SQC’s current product roadmap, consult the official NRFC announcement here.

March 24, 2026