QCBRIEF
SkyWater's new unit sells superconducting and photonic chip fabrication as a contract service for outside quantum hardware teams, with Qolab signed as the first outside customer on the superconducting line.
SkyWater Technology opened SkyWater Quantum Solutions on Tuesday, the first US pure-play foundry to stand up a business unit that builds quantum-computing, networking, and sensing chips for outside customers on contract. The launch turns quantum-chip fabrication into a buyable product category rather than an in-house build problem.
The unit runs on two standardized process platforms. SC250 handles high-density superconducting circuits, cryogenic interconnects, and control logic. SP90 builds low-loss silicon-nitride waveguides for quantum photonic routing. The combination lets outside teams order wafer-scale hardware without owning a fab.
The launch customer is Qolab, which signed a joint development agreement to fabricate its Quantum System-in-Package hardware on the SC250 line. QSiP integrates cryogenic control into the package itself, instead of bolting it on as separate rack-scale hardware.
SkyWater named IonQ as the anchor hardware collaborator. The heterogeneous-integration packaging capability, including on-chip III-V lasers, modulators, photodetectors, and quantum materials like diamond color centers and lithium niobate, traces to IonQ's Nexus Photonics acquisition. SkyWater is the merchant foundry. The packaging lineage came in through a partner.
SkyWater did not disclose the Qolab deal's value, the foundry's wafer capacity, or any other customers on the line.