Toronto quantum computing firm Xanadu is collaborating with Corning, the New York State-based materials giant best known as the maker of protective Gorilla Glass for smartphones. Corning will contribute fibre optics and fibre array know-how to help Xanadu network photonic quantum computing chips like those in its Aurora system. BetaKit has reached out to both companies to ask for details about the agreement.
The two plan to create the “low-loss” networking needed to scale quantum computers, according to the companies. Reliable, general-purpose quantum computers will reportedly need “thousands” of connected chips. Xanadu’s 35-chip Aurora computer currently offers 12 qubits (quantum bits), but the company wants to reach the 1-million-qubits milestone that Microsoft and other companies are targeting for a truly powerful, fault-resistant quantum machine.
Xanadu became a tech unicorn in 2022 as one of Canada’s most prominent quantum computing companies.
“Aurora demonstrated scalability and networkability on photonic quantum computers and our next goal is to dial down optical loss,” Xanadu photonics engineering lead Inna Krasnokutska said in a statement. The companies say the collaboration will take advantage of Corning’s “world-leading capabilities” in fibre optics.
Xanadu has already claimed two quantum computing advancements in 2025. In January, it maintained that it had managed a “pivotal” breakthrough by networking quantum computers together. Earlier in March, it outlined a new approach to error correction that could reduce overhead compared to past methods.
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Founded in 2016, Xanadu became a tech unicorn in 2022 as one of Canada’s most prominent quantum computing companies. The startup has secured multiple funding rounds worth over $100 million all together, and as of last spring, has been trying to raise another $200 million for a quantum data centre. It has also worked with Toronto Metropolitan University to develop a quantum computing academic program, and other efforts to improve the talent selection in the field.
The announcement comes as Canada-born D-Wave claims to have achieved quantum supremacy, or demonstrating the ability of a quantum computer to solve a problem no conventional computer can address in a reasonable timeframe. IBM and other industry leaders have argued that supremacy alone isn’t enough, and that it’s also important to develop quantum computers with real-world utility.
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun “Jensen” Huang has said that genuinely useful quantum computers are realistically over 20 years away. D-Wave chief Alan Baratz disagreed, however, claiming that Huang had a “misunderstanding” of the field and that his company was years ahead. However, D-Wave’s quantum annealing approach differs from the photonic systems Xanadu and other quantum players frequently use.
Xanadu X8 quantum computing chip. Image courtesy of Xanadu.