Nuclear lab in Cheshire to test quantum technology that operates at minus 270C

A 1960s nuclear research lab in the North of England will host a new quantum computing facility under plans drawn up by a Silicon Valley technology company.

Psiquantum is to set up a research hub at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, using the facility’s state of the art cooling systems to develop its technology. Psiquantum, which is backed by Blackrock, Microsoft and Baillie Gifford, was set up by professors at Bristol University and Imperial College London, but its founders moved to Silicon Valley in 2016 under advice from investors.

Its work at the Daresbury facility, which has been partly funded by a £9m government grant, will test how the company’s quantum systems operate in the extreme cold environments that are needed for quantum bits, known as qubits, to be stable.

Quantum computing exploits the properties of quantum physics to promise exponential leaps in computing power. Development of the technology is seen as a national priority because of its potential to crack encrypted communications and develop advanced chemicals and materials.

The Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire was set up in 1962 to study nuclear physics and continues as a physics and materials lab with about 300 staff.

Psiquantum’s machines are designed to operate at around 4 Kelvin, equivalent to minus 270C.