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14 May 2025
Tempe, Arizona, facility was completed in March and is now said to be operational.
Quantum Computing Inc. (QCi), the Nasdaq-listed company working on integrated photonics and non-linear quantum optics for high-performance computing applications, has opened a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) optical chip foundry.
Located within a leased space at the Arizona State University Research Park in Tempe, Arizona, the facility is said to represent a milestone in QCi's strategic roadmap to meet growing global demand for TFLN photonic chips, and to accelerate the commercialization of its own next-generation quantum computers.
“Construction of the foundry was completed in March 2025, followed shortly by the finalization of its upgraded ISO certification ahead of schedule,” announced the firm.
“The state-of-the-art facility is now operational, fulfilling existing customer pre-orders, and is positioned to scale production capacity to address rising demand across datacom, telecom, advanced sensing, and quantum computing markets.”
Scalable solution
QCi says that the foundry is intended to serve customers seeking US-based manufacturing of high-performance photonic chips, while laying the groundwork to supply critical components for QCi's proprietary quantum computing machines.
Yuping Huang, the company’s interim CEO following the recent retirement of Bill McGann, said: “By controlling our supply chain and scaling chip production domestically, we are uniquely positioned to deliver value to customers while advancing our own quantum hardware development.”
According to QCi’s most recent annual report, the company expects TFLN-based optical integrated circuits to provide the greatest scalability and performance advantages for quantum information processing, sensing, and imaging applications.
While proprietary chip designs will be used in-house, the firm’s foundry services offering will make available a range of custom TFLN chips such as single-photon detectors for sale into existing commercial markets.
Other commercial devices could include electro-optic modulators, periodically poled devices for wavelength conversion, and micro-ring resonator cavities.
While QCi’s current sales revenues are tiny - it reported annual sales of less than $0.4 million in both 2023 and 2024 - the company believes that its Tempe foundry service offering will address growing demand for TFLN-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
It cites a 2023 market report suggesting that the global TFLN electro-optical modulator market would grow from $190 million in 2022 to nearly $2 billion by 2029.
‘Transformative’ potential
While the optical nonlinearity and high refractive index of bulk lithium niobate means that it has been used for decades in applications like wavelength conversion and modulator components, the thin-film version of the material is at a much earlier stage of development compared with established alternatives like indium phosphide and silicon photonics.
However, TFLN does appear to be gaining some commercial traction, with startups Lightium and HyperLight both raising significant venture finance last year, and the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) spinning out its TFLN foundry operation on the same day that QCi announced its own grand opening.
In a “policy paper” from May 2024, QCi cites some key technological advantages of TFLN electro-optical modulators, including broad transparency bandwidth, low power consumption, and compact size.
Meanwhile, CSEM has described TFLN as a “transformative” material platform capable of alleviating some of the bottlenecks in AI-focused data centers, and potentially opening the door to entirely new possibilities in quantum technologies and advanced sensing applications.
Pouya Dianat, QCi's “chief revenue officer” following a recent promotion, commented: "With the foundry operational, our near-term focus is to fulfill existing customer pre-orders and expand sales across datacom, telecom, and advanced sensing markets.
“We expect to see modest initial revenue from the fab this year, and as we scale and bring more customers online, we anticipate revenue growth starting to accelerate in 2026.”
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