Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and Hispasat, Redeia’s satellite services operator, have announced the start of the development, manufacturing, verification, and validation phase of the QKD-GEO prototype, Spain’s quantum key distribution system from geostationary orbit. With a budget of 103.5 million euros, the QKD-GEO mission is a project initiated by the Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures and funded by European funds from the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (PERTE Aeroespacial), for which contracting is managed by CDTI.

Next-generation communications security tech company Q*Bird has made a significant step forward in quantum networking, with the creation of technology to allow multiple users to set up a quantum link simultaneously.

SEEQC, the first company to create digital chips to power full-stack quantum computing systems that work with all quantum computing technologies – has raised $30 million to further accelerate the capabilities and commercial rollout of its chip platform. The round was led by NordicNinja and Booz Allen Ventures with participation from SIP Capital, alongside existing investors EQT Ventures, M-Ventures (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) BlueYard Capital, FAM and Asset Management.

SandboxAQ today announced a round of more than $300 million from Fred Alger Management, LLC, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Mumtalakat, Parkway Venture Capital, Breyer Capital, Rizvi Traverse, S32, US Innovative Technology Fund, Ava Investors, Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff, David Siegel, Yann LeCun, IQT, and other prominent investors. The funding round valued the company at $5.3 billion on a pre-money basis.

Newly opened National Quantum Computing Centre will be home to new quantum computers, designed to push the boundaries of what is possible with the technology.

Arqit Quantum Inc. announces a global tier 1 telco operator has signed a 3 year contract for Arqit’s NetworkSecure. The telco operates in 32 countries, providing secure digital infrastructure, with a backbone spanning over 600,000 km of fiber. Arqit’s Quantum-Safe NetworkSecure technology will be deployed as part of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) suite. This agreement marks a major step in securing enterprise and government communications against emerging cyber threats, including those posed by quantum computing.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected Florida Atlantic University’s Hamming Quasi-Cyclic (HQC) for standardization in its Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) project. After a thorough evaluation process, NIST selected HQC to be part of the new generation of encryption standards, for its ability to meet its criteria for security, efficiency and practical implementation.

The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) launched its first Insights Paper, “The convergence of healthcare and pharmaceuticals with quantum computing: A new fronter in medicine”, exploring how quantum computing could enable a step-change in medicine and healthcare delivery over the coming decades.

Nokia and Honeywell Aerospace Technologies today announced a strategic partnership with Numana to advance Quantum-Safe Networks (QSN) in Montreal, Canada, and worldwide. This collaboration will drive innovation, foster collaboration, and accelerate the adoption of next-generation secure networking technologies for enterprises and service providers. Additionally, this partnership will help raise awareness about the importance and benefits of these technologies, advancing secure and reliable networking solutions for a resilient digital future.

Colt Technology Services (Colt), the global digital infrastructure company, today announced the successful completion of a groundbreaking quantum-secured encryption trial across its optical wave network. Colt collaborated with a number of technology partners for the trial including Adtran, Ciena, ID Quantique, Nokia and Toshiba, with a view to Colt offering a suite of services for global businesses to prepare for a quantum-secured future.