AegiQ, the UK quantum photonics start-up, has secured a total of £1.4 million in funding from Innovate UK to develop secure quantum communications for fibre-optic and satellite based applications, announced the firm this week.
AegiQ will join a global pilot project to provide scalable, high-performing semiconductor technology for next generation telecoms.
AegiQ has been awarded Innovate UK funding as part of a consortium of companies. It will build communication infrastructure resistant to hacking by new quantum methods. The start-up is also championing the use and development of quantum photonic technologies.
Led by CEO and co-founder Dr. Max Sich, AegiQ is a spin-out of the University of Sheffield and part of the UK government's £70m funding initiativeto secure the UK’s position as a world-leader in quantum technology.
Quantum cryptography is viewed as the key to future-proofing security by the telecoms industry, by addressing advances in quantum computing which make traditional messaging encryption methods vulnerable to attacks.
AegiQ is the leading company developing III-V semiconductor-based quantum photonics (manufacturing chips using elements such as Gallium, Indium and Arsenic rather than traditional Silicon), which is accepted as a far superior method in terms of reliability and security, and leverages existing industrial processing techniques.