Quantum computers are the future, but right now, they’re stuck in the past. Why? Because testing the quantum chips that power them is painfully slow, brutally expensive, and monopolises expert talent. That’s where Orange Quantum Systems (OrangeQS) comes in!
The Delft-based startup just raised €12 million in an oversubscribed seed round to solve a problem almost no one is talking about, but every quantum company feels.The round was led by Icecat Capital with participation from QBeat Ventures and InnovationQuarter Capital, with pre-seed investors Cottonwood Technology Fund and QDNL Participations continuing their participation.
Despite quantum computing’s potential, developing and building quantum computers has been slow. A large factor in the delay is the testing process, which limits capacity and often ties up existing computers. Dutch quantum tech answered our questions about the testing bottleneck, their solution, and what it could unlock.
Why testing quantum chips is so hard
Quantum computing seems alien to the traditional computing we know, in which the bit is either on or off, a 1 or a 0. In quantum computing, the quantum bit, or qubit, can be a superposition of 1 and 0, creating more complex states than in classical computing. It relies on the principles of quantum physics, where particles do not follow the laws of physics we are familiar with.
That complexity makes testing the chips expensive and difficult. OrangeQS wants to solve that problem. “While quantum computing has the potential to benefit society in a big way,” OrangeQS CEO Garrelt Alberts said, “useful quantum computing cannot be achieved without a ‘semicon’ approach to quantum chip development.”
Their team, currently 30-strong with 14 different nationalities and 25% women, includes backgrounds from experimental physics, systems engineering, research management, computational science and aerospace engineering. “The challenge that excites everyone at OrangeQS is bringing together many fields of engineering and building systems that are perhaps even more complex than quantum computers,” said Alberts.
The quantum testing bottleneck
Testing quantum chips is incredibly demanding, and that creates a drain on resources. “Manufacturers that do have dedicated test equipment for their quantum chips have built this in-house. They have about 30 – 50% of their R&D team designing, building and maintaining multiple test setups,” Alberts explained. “The experts occupied with this work are expensive and scarce and should be freed up to design and build quantum chips, quantum computing systems and algorithms.”
Unlike traditional semiconductor chips, which can be mass-tested in ambient temperatures, quantum chips need specialised equipment. “They need to be isolated and shielded, involving high vacuum, ultra-low temperatures, and low-power microwave electromagnetic signals,” Alberts told us. Many use their quantum computers to test chips, but when testing can take weeks, it diverts more resources away from quantum development.
OrangeQS’s quantum tools
OrangeQS plans to transform quantum computing by removing this bottleneck. Instead of building quantum computers to simply increase testing capacity, they are building new tools that test the quantum parts. “We produce solutions dedicated to quantum chip testing. This allows us to optimise for ‘test-time per qubit’,” Alberts said. They are iterating their testing process with each generation of their system, constantly improving their performance. “This approach will allow us to reduce test-time per qubit by several orders of magnitude.”
They aim to reduce the testing time from weeks to days, freeing time, resources, and talent to work on quantum computing rather than quantum testing.
Perhaps surprisingly, OrangeQS is the only company offering a dedicated solution to the problems of quantum chip testing. “A turnkey solution for quantum testing that is reliable, fast and cost-effective is unique at the moment,” said Alberts. That position was reflected in their seed round, which was oversubscribed.
Clearing the way to quantum computing
OrangeQS’s plans may prove critical to the ambitions of quantum computing manufacturers, who are racing towards making the first practical quantum computers. IBM Quantum aims to produce the first fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029, but leading competitors are not far behind. “This can only be done with fast iteration cycles, for which testing is an essential step,” says Alberts.
By accelerating testing, OrangeQS hopes to enable the breakthrough into practical quantum computing, and perhaps a quantum equivalent of Moore’s law. “We need to be ready with our high-throughput solutions for the highest performing quantum chips, by the time the mature semicon industry gets involved,” Alberts told us.
Quantum computing has long been largely theoretical: a technology that could have a profound impact, but held back by the challenges of making effective computers. Although OrangeQS is not planning to manufacture computers, Alberts hopes that by accelerating testing they will also accelerate the development that takes quantum computers from theory to practical reality. “We are looking for quantum chip development to go ‘from lab to fab’, from academic environments to industrial approaches.”
