AMD and PsiQuantum announced an expanded strategic partnership on Thursday to co-design computing infrastructure for utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers.
The collaboration aims to integrate classical high-performance computing, AI, and photonic quantum technology into a hybrid fabric.
The companies plan to co-design hardware and software to operate these quantum systems, leveraging AMD’s CPUs, GPUs, and adaptive computing technology alongside PsiQuantum’s silicon photonics platform. As part of the expanded relationship, AMD intends to make an equity investment in the Palo Alto-based quantum company, though the firms did not disclose the size of the stake.
“By bringing our teams and technologies together, PsiQuantum and AMD will advance the future of computing, from the infrastructure that supports utility-scale quantum systems to new approaches for networking with silicon photonics and scaling the foundations of next-gen AI,” PsiQuantum CEO Victor Peng said.
The partnership builds upon existing work involving AMD Versal FPGA technology, which PsiQuantum previously selected for its quantum computing platform. The companies are now expanding this relationship to include the AMD Instinct GPU line and the ROCm software stack.
“AMD has a long track record of bringing together the compute technologies and deep engineering partnerships needed to build the world’s most powerful supercomputers and AI infrastructure,” said Mark Papermaster, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at AMD.
“We see that same opportunity with quantum computing, where leadership in classical computing is essential to building systems at scale. Our work with PsiQuantum brings the breadth of AMD compute and software to this next frontier, combining our strengths to accelerate the path to utility-scale quantum computing.”
Initial commercial efforts will focus on pharmaceutical research and drug discovery, specifically biological modeling. Researchers have already utilized AMD hardware to optimize a machine-learning decoder, known as PRISM, for real-time error correction in photonic quantum computers.
This tool performs real-time error correction in photonic quantum computers, and according to the companies, this workflow has delivered initial breakthroughs in the simulation of covalent inhibitors, a class of molecules used in oncology drug discovery.
The collaboration aligns with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis Priority Applications, which outline scientific problems fault-tolerant quantum computers are expected to address.
Beyond the technical partnership, the companies are in discussions regarding a potential footprint at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago. “Together, we’re laying the foundation to create new opportunities for Illinoisans,” said Governor JB Pritzker, Governor.
The two companies plan to provide further details regarding their strategic partnership at the SC26 conference, which takes place in Chicago from November 15 to November 20.
This latest development follows broader federal support for the sector; in May, the U.S. Commerce Department announced plans to take minority equity stakes in nine quantum computing companies as part of a $2 billion investment under the CHIPS Act, an effort that included a $100 million deal with PsiQuantum, Reuters reported.