In the last few weeks, the world's largest technology companies have spent billions investing in quantum computing, setting the stage for a new era of supercomputing. In April 2025, Google announced a new chip named "Willow" for more effective error correction.
AWS announced a program to get businesses onto quantum systems, and IonQ unveiled a quantum operating system. The updates suggest the race in quantum technology is intensifying rapidly.
Now Cisco Systems is joining the fray. On Tuesday, the company unveiled the design of a new kind of chip that could help overcome these hurdles and make quantum computers widely available. Cisco also said it is opening a new lab in Santa Monica, Calif., dedicated to accelerating the development of this technology.
The chip is meant to connect smaller quantum computers into larger networks. It employs a bit of the same technology as regular networking chips today. The idea is to stitch together a powerful machine by linking up many smaller quantum units rather than attempting to create one giant quantum apparatus.
The chip will also be handy even before full-fledged quantum computers are widespread, Cisco says. For instance, it could aid financial firms in coordinating the timing of trades around the world. And it might even enable scientists to spot meteorites by linking distant sensors together and then syncing up their clocks.
The chip is just the first step, said Vijoy Pandey, a senior vice president at Cisco's innovation team called Outshift. "To build out that quantum network, the first thing you need is an entanglement chip," he told Reuters. "Here's the first building block of that."
The chip was created in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara. It functions by generating pairs of light particles, called photons, that are entangled in the quantum-mechanical sense. So they remain connected even from a distance. One photon goes to one quantum computer, and the other goes to a different one. For a few seconds, this means the two computers can talk directly to each other.
This weird connection is a familiar feature of quantum physics. Albert Einstein had famously referred to it as "spooky action at a distance." It will draw on this principle to help create what might be the next generation of quantum networks.
There is no product plan yet for when the chip might begin making money, Pandey said. It's still in the prototype stage at the moment.
Cisco 's move comes as additional companies pour into the quantum space. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia have all announced their efforts recently. At the same time, startups like PsiQuantum are raising huge amounts of money to develop working quantum systems.
Most of these companies are working on building better "qubits," the fundamental building blocks of quantum computing — Cisco is working to connect them. The aim is to construct a network capable of combining various quantum machines into one system.
Cisco also discussed other aspects of its quantum plan, including one to put them in "Quantum Data Centers," with many small quantum computers connected to each other. Another project, which is called QFabric, will support moving entangled photons between devices with very high fidelity, extremely low latency, or very low loss of data.
Security is another element of the plan. Cisco is researching how to blend quantum-based encryption with existing techniques to defend data from tomorrow's threats.
The company is also developing software it is calling Quantum Orchestra. This tool will facilitate the management of entanglement sharing between machines and the control of the information flow within the network.
