UK front-loads £500m into quantum push that boosts gas


The UK’s decision to inject more than £500m ($687m) into quantum computing over the next four years could open new opportunities for the industrial gas sector, particularly in cryogenics and high-purity gas supply.

As the government aims to build sovereign capability in quantum hardware, suppliers of liquid helium, nitrogen, and other specialist gases may find growing demand from labs, start-ups and quantum infrastructure projects.

To understand where these opportunities might lie, it’s worth looking at the specific demands of quantum computing and the role played by cryogenics and ultra-high-purity gases.

Liquid helium is used to keep quantum computers at temperatures near absolute zero, or −273.15°C. This is not because the computers generate a lot of heat themselves, but because their qubits – the basic units of quantum information – need extreme cooling to maintain coherence and avoid interference. 

… to continue reading this article and more, please login, register for free, or consider subscribing to gasworld

Register today

Paywall Asset Header Graphic

You’ve reached your weekly limit to access free articles!

Want to keep reading?

Please register for free and create a profile to gain access to this full article and gasworld’s daily news.

For access to more content including our monthly digital magazines, subscriber-only features or columns and all our other gasworld archives, please consider subscribing.

Alternatively, you can continue reading more articles as a guest on Saturday, 28th June at 1:24PM