Beyond the Qubit

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.

Transduction is “everybody’s problem and nobody’s problem.”

That line from Vijoy Pandey, SVP/GM of Outshift by Cisco, stayed with me after Part 2 of my Beyond the Qubit interview because it points to one of the most important value layers in quantum.

In this episode, I explore why connecting quantum computers may become just as important as building them. In classical networking, information can be inspected, routed, and forwarded. Quantum information is different. If you inspect the quantum state, you risk destroying the information you are trying to preserve.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand the infrastructure that quantum computing will need to scale. The challenge is not only building better qubits. It is creating the interfaces, switches, and protocols that allow different quantum systems to communicate.

That is where transduction becomes strategically important. It is the translation layer between quantum computers and quantum networks. Without it, the industry risks creating isolated compute islands where every system speaks its own language.

Cisco’s approach is interesting because it is not built around betting on one winning quantum modality. Instead, the focus is on building a network layer that can connect different architectures. If quantum becomes a distributed computing platform, the companies controlling the interfaces and connectivity layers could become important control points.

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why quantum networks cannot copy classical internet architecture

Why transduction is the interface problem between quantum computers and networks

How quantum switches differ from classical switches

Why different quantum modalities create a connectivity challenge

How Cisco’s universal quantum switch approaches translation between encodings

Why ecosystem collaboration matters for quantum networking

Why the network layer could become a valuable control point

What investors should watch as quantum infrastructure develops

Chapters
00:00 Why transduction matters in quantum networking
01:35 Why quantum needs a network layer
02:39 The NIC card analogy for quantum
03:24 Why transduction is harder than classical networking
04:51 Why quantum networks cannot inspect information
07:05 Building a universal quantum switch
08:45 Translating different quantum encodings
10:48 Why ecosystem collaboration matters
12:47 Keeping the network simple and complexity at the edge
14:48 Why transduction could become a strategic control point

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 internet was built by reading packet headers.

Quantum networks cannot do that.

In this episode, I explore my biggest takeaways from Part 1 of my Beyond the Qubit interview with Vijoy Pandey, head of Outshift at Cisco. The key difference is simple but profound: classical networks scale by inspecting and forwarding information, while quantum networks have to preserve information they cannot directly inspect.

This episode is for investors, founders, and anyone trying to understand what infrastructure quantum computing will need beyond the QPU itself. If quantum systems are going to scale beyond isolated machines, they will need a network layer that can connect processors, sensors, and resources while preserving fragile quantum states.

Cisco’s approach is interesting because the company is not trying to build the quantum computer itself. It is exploring the networking layer around quantum systems, using photonics, telecom frequencies, room-temperature components, and existing fiber infrastructure. The goal is not to recreate the classical internet, but to build the architecture needed for quantum scale.

The strategic question is not only who builds the best qubits.

It is also:
Who builds the network that connects them?

💡 In this episode, we cover:
Why quantum networks cannot simply copy classical internet architecture

Why quantum information cannot be inspected like classical packets

How quantum switches and entanglement sources could enable scaling

Why networking between QPUs may become a major bottleneck

Why Cisco is focusing on the infrastructure layer around quantum computers

How photonics and existing fiber infrastructure could improve deployability

Why quantum networks may also connect sensors and shared resources

What investors should watch in the quantum networking stack

Chapters
00:00 Why Cisco is exploring quantum networking
00:50 Why quantum needs a network layer
03:22 Quantum clusters and the need for connectivity
04:47 What quantum networking actually means
05:23 The quantum switch challenge
08:01 Why classical networking cannot be copied
10:03 Why quantum networks cannot inspect information
12:29 Building networks without destroying quantum states
14:42 Why Cisco focuses on photonics and fiber
17:39 Connecting quantum computers and sensors
27:14 The current state of quantum networking

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.