Nineteen companies, including a synthetic diamond manufacturer, a major insurance company, and a global technology solutions provider, have joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange in roughly the past year, marking the consortium’s biggest growth period and signaling an inflection point for the emerging industry.
The CQE expansion comes as quantum technologies move closer to real-world applications, sparking activity and interest among investors, governments, quantum technology providers, suppliers, and companies that may ultimately adopt quantum innovations to advance their industries.
“Quantum technology companies, potential end users, and even adjacent industries know that now is the time to build and strengthen the partnerships that will put them among the first to benefit as quantum technologies reach commercial utility,” said David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago and the founding director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange. “The Chicago Quantum Exchange is a community built on collaboration. We have the institutions, infrastructure, and talent pipelines — and with each new partner, we have an ever-growing network of expertise that enables us to power transformative growth.”
The new CQE partners include established technology companies like Unisys, Cisco, and Seagate; newer companies, like Qolab and SandboxAQ, both started by Google veterans; and a range of other quantum technology providers, including five new startups participating in the Duality quantum accelerator. (Startups in Duality receive a free partnership in CQE while participating in the year-long program.) The most recent addition was Allstate, which is among the first insurers to explore quantum computing opportunities for assessing risk, detecting fraud, and serving customers, among other use cases.
The CQE, an intellectual hub that advances the science and engineering of quantum information, prepares the quantum workforce, and drives the quantum economy, offers its partners access to the globally recognized quantum ecosystem that spans Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, enabling companies to engage in research with universities and national laboratories, collaborate on education and workforce development initiatives, and co-develop technologies with regional startups.
“This collaboration between Unisys and the CQE demonstrates our commitment to pushing the boundaries of quantum while underscoring the goal of delivering tailored solutions for industry-specific challenges,” said Mike Thomson, president and chief operating officer at Unisys. “The partnership enables Unisys to engage with top-tier talent, stay at the forefront of quantum innovation through workshops and conferences, establish strategic alliances for co-developing industry-specific quantum solutions, and exchange expertise within the CQE network.”
The CQE community has seen substantial progress in the past two years, with two CQE-led federal designations — the US Economic Development Administration Bloch Quantum Tech Hub and the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) Development Award — and the announcements of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park with anchor tenant and CQE corporate partner, PsiQuantum; a new National Quantum Algorithm Center fueled by CQE corporate partner IBM’s next-generation quantum computer; and the DARPA-Illinois Quantum Proving Ground.
For KPMG, a US audit, tax and advisory firm, joining the CQE is an opportunity to develop relationships and trainings that will support its work in quantum technology enterprise applications.
“Quantum technology represents one of the biggest leaps forward in technology, and its potential for collaboration, research, and discovery cannot be overstated,” said Cliff Justice, KPMG national leader of Enterprise Innovation. “Working with the Chicago Quantum Exchange is critical to understanding how the technology can be used to solve business challenges, as well as help organizations future-proof their businesses.”
Others joined because their companies rely on collaboration in the quantum space to grow their business.
“At this pivotal time in quantum innovation, fostering a collaborative ecosystem is essential,” said John Ciraldo, chief technology officer at WD Advanced Materials, which manufactures diamonds that are used in qubits, the building blocks of quantum technologies. “At WDAM, we are committed to advancing our breakthrough work in high-quality diamond synthesis, and we believe our partnerships across the CQE will play a crucial role in accelerating the realization of transformative quantum technologies.”
Xanadu, a full-stack quantum computing company, called joining the CQE a “key milestone in our mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere.”
“By joining forces with the CQE's esteemed consortium of university and industrial leaders, we are poised to empower the next generation of pioneers in quantum programming and to drive applied research that moves quantum computing from the theoretical into the practical," said Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu’s founder and CEO.
The 19 companies are listed below by the category most relevant to the CQE partnership:
Quantum sensing:
- Dirac Labs, a Madison, Wisconsin–based startup that is leveraging quantum sensing and nanophotonics research to develop positioning, tracking, and navigation technologies for autonomous vehicles and other applications.
- SynthBits, a quantum hardware company based on a novel quantum-bit design, initially building quantum microscopes that will accelerate advancements in medicine, diagnostics, and research. Part of Duality Cohort 4.
- Quantum Astra, a quantum research and development startup pioneering advanced quantum sensing technologies, specializing in highly sensitive NV diamond center quantum sensors designed for precision applications across industries such as healthcare, energy, and mobility. Through rigorous research and innovative engineering, QuantumAstra aims to deliver next-generation sensing solutions that leverage the unique properties of NV diamond centers to enable breakthroughs in diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and aviation. Part of Duality Cohort 4.
- Sivananthan Laboratories, a company that aims to drive innovation in the Illinois region by fostering high-tech research and development. Among Sivananthan Laboratories’ areas of focus has been in the development and commercialization of intelligent infrared sensors and imagers, including entangled photon sources and detectors; joining the CQE is “another step forward” for those efforts, the company’s founder said.
- SandboxAQ, a B2B company delivering solutions at the intersection of AI and quantum techniques. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) deliver critical advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, and other sectors. SandboxAQ and CQE will collaborate on quantum sensing efforts, particularly at the University of Chicago-based National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (QuBBE). The CQE and SandboxAQ will also work together on recruiting, education, and training initiatives.
Quantum communication and networking:
- Cisco, a global manufacturer of technology that powers the internet. The California-based company includes Cisco Quantum Lab, which focuses on quantum networking and quantum-safe networking — two areas that are central to the CQE partnership.
- Photon Queue, a company introducing efficient quantum memories to expedite the adoption of quantum communication, computing, and metrology technologies. Part of Duality Cohort 4.
- Quantum Corridor, an Indiana-based network technology company working to speed the business adoption of quantum computing, sensing, and communications discoveries. The coherent optical network company, which was created in 2021 as a public-private partnership to advance quantum technology innovation in Illinois and Indiana, runs a secure, high-speed fiber network linking data centers with research and commercialization in Indiana and Chicago.
Quantum encryption:
- QNu Inc., dba enQase, a company focused on physics-based quantum cryptography solutions. Their products include NIST-compliant PQC, QKD, QRNG, and QHSM as well as an integrated solution platform that combines these in one system. enQase enables enterprises implement quantum safe solutions. enQase is interested in building research collaborations and leveraging the talent of the CQE community as it grows.
Quantum computing:
- Artificial Brain, a quantum computing company specializing in real-time software for extremely complex optimization problems in aerospace, defense, and energy, which are beyond the reach of current classical computing alone. Part of Duality Cohort 4.
- D-Wave Quantum Inc., a leading provider of quantum computing systems, software, and services. The company, which serves a wide range of industries, helps customers derive value from today’s quantum technologies by solving complex computational problems spanning optimization, research, and artificial intelligence.
- Qolab, a quantum computing startup that aims to build a utility-scale quantum computer by leading a semiconductor ecosystem effort to make the highest quality superconducting qubits. Qolab is the first quantum computing startup incubated at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has raised over $17 million in its first financing round.
- Quantum Rings, a company making quantum computing more accessible by offering tools for developers, including an advanced quantum simulator for quantum circuits. Part of Duality Cohort 4.
- Xanadu, a full-stack quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. The Toronto-based photonic quantum computing company also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing programming and application development. The company, which was founded in 2016, also strategically partners with academic institutions and research labs to collaboratively advance quantum education.
Quantum technology–enabling:
- WD Advanced Materials, a material science company and large-scale manufacturer of lab-grown diamond substrates and thin films. As a corporate partner, WDAM aims to work with CQE researchers to characterize, test, and validate specific material use cases as they further expand their global distribution of diamond solutions for next-generation electronic and quantum applications.
Potential end users and adjacent industries:
- Allstate, an insurer that offers protection for autos, homes, personal property, and identities. The company is exploring opportunities to accelerate development in artificial intelligence and machine learning, enhance digital decision-making and prepare for quantum-ready solutions for the future.
- KPMG LLP, the US audit, tax and advisory firm. The company aims to develop relationships and trainings that will support its work as it accelerates a quantum technology practice aimed at helping clients deploy the technology in enterprise applications.
- Seagate, a global data storage and memory technology company. The Fremont, California-based company provides mass-capacity storage to support a range of industries, including healthcare, media, security, and energy. Seagate and the CQE will work together on sponsored research collaborations and talent recruitment.
- Unisys, a leading global technology solutions provider. Their partnership with the CQE aims to drive industry-specific applications for quantum technology, developing top-tier quantum talent, and strengthening the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana quantum ecosystem. Unisys brings extensive expertise in quantum solutions and services across logistics, meteorology, financial modeling, and cryptography, contributing greatly to the advancement of quantum technology.