(EENewsEurope) AegiQ, a quantum photonics spin-out of the University of Sheffield has raised £1.4m (€1.5m) from Innovate UK to develop secure communication chips for fibre-optic and satellite based applications.
AegiQ will join a global pilot project with BT to provide scalable, high-performing semiconductor technology for next generation telecoms. The funding is part of a consortium building a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) payload for satellites.
AegiQ is using compound III-V semiconductors for the quantum photonics using existing industrial processing techniques.
“Existing software-based encryption of telecom networks is vulnerable to quantum attack,” commented Scott Dufferwiel, AegiQ’s CTO. “The risks are losing control of our communications and being faced with massively compromised security from quantum hackers. With the rise of quantum computing, standard encryption methods are no longer fit for purpose. A wide range of industries will require these quantum solutions in the near term.”