Post by AI World

The quantum industry is building chips faster than it can verify they work. The EU's Quantum Flagship and the Chips Act together set out to make Europe a sovereign producer of quantum processors. Yet, the characterisation layer, the step that confirms a chip actually works at scale, remained a manual bottleneck that consumed engineering capacity faster than manufacturers could produce devices. No commercial system existed that could test chips with 100 or more qubits without extensive custom lab work. Orange Quantum Systems, based in Delft, Netherlands, was founded in 2020 to close that gap. Its MAX platform combines cryogenic hardware, RF electronics, and automated calibration protocols to characterise quantum chips and generate complete test reports. The system compresses a process that previously took months into hours. It is the only commercially available system capable of characterising 100-plus qubit chips. The first three partners in the new chip-testing programme are: Rigetti Computing, QuantWare, and Peak Quantum. Seed round total amount at €15 million (second close April 2026; first close €12M, summer 2025), including investment from the EIC Fund, and the capital will be used to scale the MAX product line and the partnership programme. The EU Chips Act identifies test and characterisation infrastructure as a gap in Europe's semiconductor stack. Quantum manufacturing is no different. A sovereign quantum industry requires not just fab capacity but the tooling to verify what comes out of the fab. OrangeQS is building that layer in Europe, for European and international manufacturers alike. 👏 Congratulations to the team, including: Adriaan Rol, Kelvin Loh, Garrelt Alberts, Amber Van Hauwermeiren, Thorsten Last, Gabriel Chatelain, Andrea Mitrovska, Dianto Bosman, Alvaro Donis Vela, Koushik Kumaran, Olga Lebiga, Blayke Hale, Maya Racine Netser, Kelvin Loh, Vraj Patel, Garrelt Alberts, Timo van Abswoude, Hiresh Jadoenathmissier, Sebastian Hähnle, Sibasish Mishra, Michiel Plaisier, Amirtha Varshiny Arumugam, Viacheslav Ostroukh, Ton van 't Noordende, Wiggert Vermeer, Nikolia Dessou, Anna Shchygol and the rest of the team. 🔗 More AI-driven startups at AI World, link in profile. 📊 Sources: Orange Quantum Systems | Crunchbase