When we last had Xanadu founder and CEO Christian Weedbrook on The BetaKit Podcast, he shared his ambition to build a quantum data centre right on Lake Ontario by 2029.
Today, he’s back after announcing … a packaging plant. But it’s not any packaging plant—it’s a $10-million advanced photonic packaging plant.
According to Weedbrook, the plant represents a major step forward in the Toronto quantum startup’s plans, enabling the domestic production of high-performance quantum components necessary for fault-tolerant quantum computers.
“The current government is really plugged in to what’s needed.”
Xanadu is trying to vertically integrate and own as much of the end-to-end quantum production as possible. It will offer the company better quality control, but also revenue opportunities, which Weedbrook said Xanadu needs to demonstrate traction for future fundraising.
Weedbrook also shared an ambitious fundraising target the last time he was on the podcast: an all-Canadian $200-million round. In this episode, he notes, “The money is there, but it’s a different climate to when we raised last time.”
Is he still targeting maple money? “I’m trying so hard.”
Xanadu’s new package plant was paid for using a portion of the $40 million in federal Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) money it received in 2023, and the timing seems right for additional federal support. Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, attended the launch of Xanadu’s packaging plant, and confirmed to BetaKit that he plans to introduce new policies to help keep quantum firms in Canada, calling it “not just an economic imperative, but a national security imperative as well.”
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According to Weedbrook, that tune has also been whistled by our new prime minister, and must be music to the ears of a CEO who once said, “The only way we’ll move our headquarters outside of Toronto or Canada is if I get fired.” But with public money, the devil is often in the details, and Weedbrook outlines on this episode the government funding mechanisms he feels work best for deep tech companies.
But back to the feds for a second. Why are they suddenly talking about quantum technology alongside terms like national security and sovereignty? And what does that mean for Xanadu and its data centre dreams?
Let’s dig in.
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