Beyond the Qubit

The cryo-CMOS market may still look early. But the leaders may already be starting to emerge.

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from my Beyond the Qubit interview with Eric W. Cao, Co-Founder and CEO of Qifrost. Eric believes the scaling bottleneck that cryo-CMOS aims to solve could become critical around 2030, give or take a couple of years. But companies cannot wait until then to prepare. The next 24 months could be when the leaders begin to separate themselves from the rest of the market.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand where value may emerge in the quantum hardware supply chain. Cryo-CMOS aims to address the scaling challenges of controlling quantum processors at cryogenic temperatures. But laboratory validation is only the first step. The next challenge is proving that the technology works inside commercial quantum processing units, alongside real architectures and roadmaps.

That is what makes Qifrost interesting. The progression is clear: laboratory validation, commercial validation, standardization, and eventually mass manufacturing. The race may not be won by the company with the most impressive laboratory demonstration, but by the one that integrates its technology with commercial quantum hardware first.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why cryo-CMOS could become a critical quantum scaling technology

Why the next 24 months may help determine the market leaders

How cryogenic control electronics could reduce wiring complexity

Why laboratory validation is no longer enough

How commercial validation differs from proving technology in the lab

Why co-development with quantum processor companies matters

How standardization and mass manufacturing fit into the roadmap

What investors should watch as Qifrost moves toward commercial adoption

Chapters
00:00 Why Qifrost matters for quantum investors
01:00 Why existing quantum control infrastructure will not scale
02:30 Why the next 24 months matter for cryo-CMOS
04:30 From laboratory validation to commercial validation
11:00 The physical scaling bottleneck in quantum hardware
36:30 Why cryo-CMOS is a strategic opportunity
43:00 Why commercial execution matters more than the technology alone
65:30 Building relationships with quantum hardware developers
72:30 What it takes to prove cryo-CMOS commercially

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

The most important scaling unit in quantum may not be the qubit.

It may be the tile.

In this episode, I continue my conversation with James, CEO of Quantum Motion, to explore why the company’s tile architecture could change how investors think about quantum scaling. Most quantum discussions start with qubit count. But the semiconductor industry taught us a different lesson: scaling happens when you prove the repeating building block and then replicate it.

That is the idea behind Quantum Motion’s tile architecture.

A tile is not just a place where qubits sit. It is designed as a functional unit containing the key ingredients needed for a scalable architecture: shuttling, readout, single-qubit operations, and interfaces for interactions between neighbouring tiles.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand why manufacturability may matter more than impressive qubit numbers. The question is not only whether Quantum Motion can make more qubits. It is whether they can prove a manufacturable tile that can be repeated at scale.

Because if the tile works, the scaling problem changes.

It moves from invention risk toward replication risk.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why the tile may be more important than raw qubit count

How semiconductor scaling principles apply to quantum computing

Why a repeatable building block changes the scaling challenge

What Quantum Motion’s tile architecture contains

Why manufacturing yield and control are critical

How shuttling and readout fit into the architecture

Why the TV pixel analogy helps explain quantum scaling

What investors should watch beyond qubit numbers

Chapters
00:00 Why qubit count may not be the right metric
00:41 Manufacturing yield as a key KPI
02:37 Why control is the real bottleneck
05:26 The quantum tile architecture explained
17:12 The TV pixel analogy for quantum scaling
27:32 Shuttling, readout and the functional tile
31:00 Why replication could change the scaling equation

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

The real spin-qubit question is not:
Can you make one?

It is:
Can you control millions?

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from my Beyond the Qubit interview with James, CEO of Quantum Motion. Spin qubits have one of the most interesting scaling stories in quantum because they build on something the semiconductor industry already understands: CMOS manufacturing.

But CMOS does not make quantum easy.

It changes where the hard problem sits.

Instead of removing complexity, spin qubits move the challenge toward control, tuning, automation, and manufacturing. A single electron spin can hold quantum information, but scaling that into a useful quantum computer means controlling millions of slightly different qubits with high precision.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand why semiconductor-style manufacturing could matter in quantum. Quantum Motion’s approach is built around making qubits fit the factory from day one. The question is not only whether spin qubits work. It is whether they can become manufactured systems.

Density creates the opportunity.

Control determines whether it becomes a computer.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why spin qubits are attractive from a semiconductor perspective

How CMOS manufacturing changes the quantum scaling challenge

Why millions of qubits create a control problem

Why manufacturing discipline matters for quantum computers

How automation and scalable readout become critical

Why Quantum Motion started with a 300mm CMOS approach

Why density alone does not create a useful quantum computer

What investors should watch in spin-qubit platforms

Chapters
00:00 Why Quantum Motion and spin qubits matter
01:12 Why CMOS is the foundation of the strategy
03:18 Why semiconductor manufacturing creates an advantage
05:10 The challenge of manufacturing quantum devices
11:12 Why controlling millions of qubits is the real problem
12:17 Why scalable readout matters
17:34 Why yield and automation determine success
27:34 Why 300mm CMOS matters for quantum scaling
31:28 From individual qubits to scalable systems

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

The quantum technology worked.

Then the real problems started.

In this episode, I continue my conversation with Ingrid Romijn from Falqon® Systems to explore what happens when deep tech moves from demonstration into real-world deployment. One of my biggest takeaways was that the hardest problems often appear after the technology works.

For Falqon®, the challenge was no longer simply whether quantum key distribution works. The challenge became integration: how do you connect quantum security technology with existing infrastructure, telecom networks, fibre providers, and customer security systems?

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand how deep-tech companies move from technology development to commercial adoption. Real customers create real constraints. Government deployments push reliability requirements. Telecom customers push deployability. Enterprise users demand visibility into performance and operations.

That customer feedback loop is where companies mature.

The strategic question is not only whether a technology works.

It is:
How quickly can each customer make the next deployment easier?

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why real-world deployment creates new bottlenecks after the technology works

What Falqon® Systems learned from customer deployments

How the Port of Rotterdam exposed integration challenges

Why quantum security needs to work with existing infrastructure

How customer requirements shaped the Quantum Domain Controller

Why telecom customers care about deployability and operations

Why early customers become part of the innovation engine

How field experience can become a long-term competitive advantage

Chapters
00:00 Why deployment creates new challenges
01:27 The Port of Rotterdam customer lesson
02:50 Integrating quantum keys into existing infrastructure
12:16 Learning from early customer deployments
15:13 Building the Quantum Domain Controller
31:13 What customers need to trust the system
34:00 Why customer feedback creates a competitive moat

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.

Europe is focused on which cryptography to use.

But the bigger question may be:

Who controls it?

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from my conversation with Ingrid Romijn of Falqon® Systems and why post-quantum security is not only a cryptography question. Moving from vulnerable cryptography to quantum-safe solutions does not automatically create technological sovereignty. The question is also who controls the implementation, key management, orchestration, and security infrastructure around it.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand the emerging quantum security market. Ingrid explains why the future may not be about choosing only one technology. A layered approach combining post-quantum cryptography, QKD where appropriate, and existing security infrastructure may become the more realistic path.

That creates a new strategic layer: the control plane. As quantum security becomes more complex, the companies that can manage and orchestrate different technologies may become just as important as the companies building individual components.

The investor question is not only:

Who creates the cryptography?

It is also:

Who controls how the entire security stack works together?

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why quantum security is also a sovereignty question

Why adopting post-quantum cryptography does not automatically remove dependencies

How PQC, QKD, and existing cryptography can work together

Why key management and orchestration could become strategic layers

How Falqon® Systems is moving beyond QKD hardware

Why control planes may become valuable in quantum security

The role of European technology independence

Where investors should look for value in the quantum security stack

Chapters
00:00 Why quantum security is a sovereignty question
02:08 Why Europe matters in the quantum security landscape
04:28 Building infrastructure for quantum-safe communications
08:20 Why Falqon moved beyond QKD hardware
09:08 Combining QKD, PQC, and PKI
11:41 Why the control plane matters
18:13 The future of quantum key management
29:10 Why orchestration may become the strategic layer

Share this episode with someone investing in or building in quantum, and subscribe or follow Beyond the Qubit for more conversations on quantum technology, markets, and investing.

📌 Disclaimer:This is not investment advice.This post is shared on a personal basis and I do not represent any company.