Quantum startup Q-Block aims to move technology out of the lab

EDMONTON — A Canadian quantum startup is building shoebox-sized hardware to make quantum technology usable outside specialized laboratories.

Edmonton-based Q-Block Inc. is turning room-sized lab technology into compact, self-contained units called Q-modules.

These combine precision lasers, optics, detectors and real-time control to make the technology practical in the field.

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"Quantum systems have historically been built as bespoke laboratory assemblies, each shaped around the people who built it and the room it occupied," said chief executive Kyung Soo Choi. "Such a system can produce a remarkable result once; it cannot be reproduced at volume, serviced by a technician, or operated by an organization that did not build it."

Most current quantum equipment needs ultra-stable, temperature-controlled labs where instruments are tuned by hand.

The company's Q-module integrates components into units that stabilize themselves in real time and run at room temperature on ordinary building power.

The device is designed to fit into a universal metal electronics rack, the same used for standard computing equipment.

The hardware can also be bolted into aircraft, drones and vehicles.

The Q-modules contain three different quantum products built from the fundamental building blocks, Choi said.

AllanQ is designed to be an unhackable quantum clock for precise timing where GPS doesn't work, allowing for GPS-independent navigation.

LuciaQ is a networking platform that uses particles of light to link multiple quantum processors together.

PolarisQ is a modular quantum computing platform that uses individual atoms, held and controlled by lasers, as qubits.

It is a self-contained system that does not need a dedicated quantum lab built around it.

In 2023, the 13-person company was awarded a $150,000 Phase 1 Proof of Concept grant for its quantum receiver from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

Q-Block is developing quantum timing, sensing, networking and edge computing technologies for defence and critical infrastructure through government contracts.

The Q-module's ability to contain several devices in a single platform and its 30–40-year lifespan makes it especially valuable in defence contexts, said Choi.

Q-Block began selling products to the Canadian defence market in 2024.

The company did not provide information on revenue but said it plans to expand sales to data centres and critical infrastructure in the coming years.

Choi said he sees the most commercial opportunity in timing and synchronization for sensing, telecommunications, data centres, energy grids and financial infrastructure.

He expects organizations will soon connect quantum devices to their infrastructure to protect critical information as "Q-day" approaches.

That is the point when quantum computers may become powerful enough to hack current encryption methods.

Choi said Canada is well-positioned to have "quantum wins" that don't rely on raw scale in the global race.

Large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing costs enormous sums and the winners will likely be decided by whomever can sustain spending for the next decade or more, he added.

Canada is not going to win a spending contest against the largest economies.

"Manufacturing creates skills, tooling, suppliers and institutional knowledge that stay in the country and compound. Research does not do that on its own," said Choi.

"Canada has invested for decades in becoming a genuine centre of quantum science and whether that investment returns depends on where the resulting industry gets built."

The company was founded in 2020 by Choi, a University of Waterloo professor, out of the university's Institute for Quantum Computing.

With files from Financial Post