Qubic will deliver nine cryogenic amplifiers and accompanying software to a Canadian government agency under a new CA$1.5 million contract. The agreement follows a $3.5 million seed round completed in June, demonstrating rapid investment in the company’s low-noise amplifier designs, Qubic says. “The real-world applications for this technology are tangible and strategically important,” said Jerome Bourassa, CEO and Co-Founder at Qubic. The Innovation Solutions Canada Testing Stream facilitated the purchase, allowing government evaluation of the hardware and providing feedback to accelerate Qubic’s development and commercialization.
Qubic Secures $1.5M Canadian Contract for Amplifier Delivery
The Canadian federal government will begin testing Qubic’s low-noise amplifiers this fall under a newly signed contract valued at up to CA$1.5 million (US$1.1 million). This procurement, facilitated by the Innovation Solutions Canada Testing Stream, allows the government agency to evaluate the technology in a real-world setting and provide direct feedback to Qubic, accelerating development and commercialization of the quantum hardware, according to the company.
The agreement includes delivery of nine amplifiers alongside necessary components and software for cryogenic testing, with all milestones projected for completion by spring of 2027. Qubic’s Kinetic Inductance Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers, KI-TWPAs, are designed to amplify weak signals across a wide microwave bandwidth with minimal distortion, a critical capability for reading out superconducting qubits.
Traditional amplifiers used in cryogenic environments consume substantial cooling power; however, Qubic projects its devices will dissipate less than 0.1 mW of heat. This reduction in heat dissipation has significant implications for both applied quantum sensing and the scalability of quantum computing systems, addressing a key limitation in current dilution refrigerator designs. Unlike conventional amplifiers reliant on fragile Josephson junctions, Qubic’s KI-TWPAs derive nonlinear inductance directly from the transmission line material, resulting in a more robust design.
The amplifiers also support multiple qubit modalities beyond superconducting qubits, broadening their potential applications, the company says. Qubic is currently finalizing commercialization efforts and expanding manufacturing capacity to meet anticipated demand from both quantum computing and defence sectors. According to the company, its approach to amplifier design, focusing on robustness and low power consumption, positions it to address critical challenges in scaling quantum systems and deploying them in practical applications. The ISC Testing Stream provides a valuable pathway for Canadian technology companies to secure government contracts and validate their innovations in operational environments.
Quantum computing requires hardware innovations such as our amplifier, which unlocks new physical capabilities, in order to reach utility-scale in the medium term.
Source: https://qubictech.co/
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