Within the framework of the European Chips Strategy, the so-called European Chips Act, the European Commission has announced the creation of PIXEurope, a new European pilot line for photonic chips that aims to offer cutting-edge technological platforms, transforming and transferring innovative and disruptive integrated photonics processes and technologies to accelerate their industrial adoption. The objective is the creation of European-owned/made technology in a sector of capital importance for technological sovereignty, and therefore for the creation and maintenance of the corresponding jobs in the Union.

Quantum computers with millions of qubits are essential to solving some of humanity's toughest challenges. Integrating key qubit control electronics into the quantum chip architecture that holds the qubits is critical to achieving that scale.

ORCA Computing, has announced the acquisition of the Austin, Texas-based Integrated Photonics Division of GXC. This division is known for delivering advanced photonics solutions to top U.S. commercial and government entities including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Yale researchers have figured out a better way to control the path of light on small chips, a breakthrough that could lead to better and cheaper sensors, smart phones, and other devices. Led by Prof. Peter Rakich, the results are published in Nature Photonics.

Rigetti Computing, Inc. (“Rigetti” or the “Company”), a pioneer in full-stack quantum-classical computing, announced today that it was selected to participate in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). The primary goal of QBI is to determine if any approach to quantum computing can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033. QBI will use a multi-stage approach, Stages A, B, and C, to assess the proposed concepts, with each stage representing an increased level of scrutiny. Rigetti will advance to Stage A, a 6-month performance period focused on the Company’s utility-scale quantum computer concept worth up to $1 million upon completion of program milestones.

With the NRW Return Programme, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports young researchers who have ventured abroad from Germany and now wish to return to NRW. A maximum of six grants of up to 1.25 million euros each are awarded annually for five years to establish a junior research group. Paderborn University, together with physicist Jun. Prof. Dr Nicholas A. Güsken, was successful and received one of the grants.

Lightmatter has announced Passage M1000, a groundbreaking 3D Photonic Superchip designed for next-generation XPUs and switches. The Passage M1000 enables a record-breaking 114 Tbps total optical bandwidth for the most demanding AI infrastructure applications.

SEALSQ Corp ("SEALSQ" or "Company"), a company that focuses on developing and selling Semiconductors, PKI and Post-Quantum technology hardware and software products, today announces a strategic collaboration with IC’ALPS, a premier ASIC design house specializing in custom integrated circuits ready for IATF16949 standard, mastering Functional Safety for ISO 26262 with solutions tailored to meet the required ASIL levels. Of note, as announced in February 2025, SEALSQ has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire 100% of the share capital and voting rights of IC’ALPS. As disclosed, the acquisition is subject to, amongst other items, the completion of the appropriate due diligence, execution of definitive agreements, and authorization by French regulatory authorities.

Xanadu, a leading photonic quantum computing company, and Corning Incorporated, the global leader in fibre, cable and connectivity, will collaborate to develop customized fibre and fibre-array solutions to enable low-loss networking of photonic quantum computing chips. This collaboration will bring together Xanadu's world-leading expertise in developing ultra-low-loss photonic chip components using customized fabrication and design techniques, and Corning's future-ready innovations in low-loss optical fibre and high-precision fibre arrays. The combination of expertise will help enable the development of fault-tolerant, universal photonic quantum computers at scale.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, along with scientists and engineers at the computer chip manufacturer Diraq, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Chicago and Manchester University, have proposed the development of a quantum sensor made of quantum bits called spin qubits in silicon to probe beyond Standard Model physics. Diraq is a global leader in quantum computing technology on silicon, which is essential to the Quandarum project.