Professor Andrew Dzurak of UNSW Engineering, founder and CEO of the startup Diraq, has led a team demonstrating that silicon-based quantum chips can be manufactured at scale without losing precision. This milestone addresses a long-standing challenge in quantum computing: reproducing laboratory-level fidelity in real-world production.
Steinacker, P., Dumoulin Stuyck, N., Lim, W. H., Tanttu, T., Feng, M., Serrano, S., Nickl, A., Candido, M., Cifuentes, J. D., Vahapoglu, E., Bartee, S. K., Hudson, F. E., Chan, K. W., Kubicek, S., Jussot, J., Canvel, Y., Beyne, S., Shimura, Y., Loo, R., … Dzurak, A. S. (2025). Industry-compatible silicon spin-qubit unit cells exceeding 99% fidelity. Nature, 646(8083), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09531-9
Quantum computing relies on qubits, the basic units of quantum information, which are highly sensitive and prone to errors. While high-fidelity qubits have been demonstrated in lab settings, scaling up to commercial production has been a persistent hurdle. Diraq’s latest work, in collaboration with the European research institute Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec), shows that silicon qubits can maintain over 99% fidelity even when fabricated using standard semiconductor processes.
Professor Andrew Dzurak of UNSW Engineering stated,
“Achieving utility scale in quantum computing hinges on finding a commercially viable way to produce high-fidelity quantum bits at scale. Now it’s clear that Diraq’s chips are fully compatible with manufacturing processes that have been around for decades”.
The research, published in Nature, reports that Diraq-designed, imec-fabricated devices achieved over 99% fidelity in two-qubit operations. This result aligns with benchmarks set by the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a program led by DARPA to evaluate whether emerging quantum technologies can reach utility scale.
Utility-scale quantum computers are expected to solve problems beyond the reach of today’s most advanced supercomputers. Achieving this requires managing quantum information across millions of qubits while minimizing errors. Professor Dzurak explained that “achieving utility scale hinges on finding a commercially viable way to produce high-fidelity quantum bits at scale,” and that the collaboration with imec demonstrates a cost-effective pathway using mature semiconductor technologies.
Silicon is emerging as a leading platform for quantum computing. It allows millions of qubits to be integrated onto a single chip and is compatible with existing semiconductor fabrication methods. Diraq had previously shown that single-qubit operations using CMOS-fabricated qubits could achieve 99.9% accuracy. The latest demonstration extends this to two-qubit logic gates, which are essential for complex quantum computations and fault-tolerant operations.
“Our findings demonstrate that Diraq’s silicon qubits meet the threshold for fault tolerance while remaining industry-compatible and cost-effective,” said Professor Dzurak. He emphasized that this achievement paves the way for fully functional, fault-tolerant quantum computers that could outperform other qubit platforms while leveraging existing microchip manufacturing infrastructure.
By successfully combining high-fidelity silicon qubits with scalable manufacturing processes, Diraq has cleared a critical bottleneck in quantum computing. The work suggests that utility-scale quantum processors, capable of solving previously intractable problems, are now closer to reality.
This advancement highlights how bridging laboratory research with industrial-scale fabrication is essential for turning quantum computing from a theoretical promise into practical, deployable technology.
Adrian graduated with a Masters Degree (1st Class Honours) in Chemical Engineering from Chester University along with Harris. His master’s research aimed to develop a standardadised clean water oxygenation transfer procedure to test bubble diffusers that are currently used in the wastewater industry commercial market. He has also undergone placments in both US and China primarely focused within the R&D department and is an associate member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).
