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Xanadu Quantum Technologies and GlobalFoundries (GF) announced a multi-year partnership on 6 October 2026 to develop and manufacture photonic components for quantum computing. The joint announcement says the aim is to move Xanadu technology from laboratory prototypes into industrial production on GF’s 300mm manufacturing line in Malta, New York. This is a future manufacturing programme, not an announcement of current high-volume production.
Initial work targets ultra-low-loss silicon nitride photonics and superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Silicon nitride is an engineered photonic material used to guide light in optical circuits; the announcement gives no mined-silicon price or feedstock quantity. Xanadu describes the detectors as part of its approach to resolving photon numbers when reading the outputs of photonic quantum computations.
The companies intend the components to support future fault-tolerant demonstrators and quantum data-centre plans. They report no detector efficiency, manufacturing yield, unit cost, output volume or measured system-speed gain. Those benefits remain expectations, not observed results.
The practical milestone will be successful technology transfer and process development on GF’s line, followed by manufacturing qualification. Future work packages for quantum modules remain under exploration. Mubadala lists its investment in GF, establishing a link with an Abu Dhabi investor; the physical manufacturing work described is in New York.