IN Brief:
- Xanadu and GlobalFoundries have agreed a multiyear photonic manufacturing development partnership.
- Initial work concerns superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and low-loss silicon nitride optical circuits.
- The partners plan to transfer processes to a 300 mm semiconductor manufacturing operation in New York.
Canadian quantum computing developer Xanadu has entered a multiyear manufacturing partnership with GlobalFoundries to develop production processes for superconducting photon detectors and silicon nitride photonic circuits. The companies plan to transfer Xanadu’s component technologies into GlobalFoundries’ 300 mm semiconductor manufacturing operation in Malta, New York, with an initial programme concentrating on repeatable fabrication of optical and detection structures required for photonic quantum processors.
The collaboration brings together Xanadu’s work on low-loss optical waveguides and single-photon detection with GlobalFoundries’ industrial semiconductor process capabilities. These components perform different functions within a photonic quantum computing system: waveguides direct light through integrated optical circuits, while detectors register photons emerging from computation. Their fabrication and integration influence how reliably a larger system can operate, particularly as the number of optical paths and measurement channels increases.
Xanadu’s computing architecture uses photons to carry quantum information, with optical networks arranged to manipulate and measure quantum states. Silicon nitride is one material used for integrated optical waveguides because it can provide low optical propagation losses across useful wavelength ranges. Reducing those losses allows more light to reach subsequent stages of a circuit, an important requirement where individual photons carry information and losses cannot simply be corrected by increasing signal power without changing the quantum state.
Even small losses can accumulate when light passes through successive waveguides, bends, couplers and other optical structures. Consequently, electrical and optical performance depends on the entire process stack, including material quality, waveguide geometry, surface roughness and repeatability of fabrication. A design that performs well as an isolated laboratory prototype must retain acceptable losses and manufacturing yield when reproduced across large numbers of devices.
Alongside silicon nitride waveguides, the partners will develop superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) for optical quantum measurement. Each detector uses a narrow superconducting structure at cryogenic temperature, biased close to its switching threshold; an absorbed photon locally disrupts superconductivity and produces a detectable electrical response. Efficiency, timing behaviour, noise and recovery characteristics influence detector operation in a larger optical system.
Xanadu is using superconducting detector technology as the basis for photon number resolving measurements, which distinguish between different numbers of photons associated with an optical signal. This capability contributes to its intended quantum computing architecture, where measurement results are part of processing quantum information. Achieving photon number resolution requires an appropriate detector configuration and readout arrangement; a single photon detection event is not, by itself, a complete measurement of photon number.
Producing superconducting photon detectors consistently across large numbers of devices requires control of nanowire geometry, film uniformity, optical coupling and readout interfaces. These parameters affect yield as systems add detection channels, since a substantial proportion of the fabricated devices must meet their electrical and optical specifications.
Transferring the components to GlobalFoundries’ 300 mm wafer line introduces established process controls and inspection methods to the production flow. The larger wafer format also allows multiple devices to be processed together, although usable output depends on the number of qualifying structures rather than wafer diameter alone. The companies have not disclosed achieved production yields, detector performance across full wafers or a timetable for volume shipments.
GlobalFoundries is undertaking the work through a quantum technology operation established earlier in 2026, which draws on its cryogenic semiconductor and packaging expertise. The Xanadu programme gives that operation a defined photonic development project. It differs from conventional silicon interposer manufacturing because these structures must manipulate and detect optical quantum states rather than primarily carry electrical signals between computing dies.
Xanadu has previously worked on reducing optical losses through manufacturing and process development programmes, including research involving ASML on photonic fabrication. The GlobalFoundries agreement adds a manufacturing partner with an established industrial wafer processing operation. Its objective is to carry component designs into production while retaining optical and superconducting characteristics suitable for quantum computing.
Both companies are examining potential future programmes covering more integrated quantum modules, although these remain outside initial component manufacturing scope. Xanadu expects the work to contribute to planned fault-tolerant quantum computing demonstrators, but it has not established that those systems will achieve their intended performance or confirmed when commercial equipment using these components will become available.
Consistent waveguide attenuation and detector performance across the manufacturing process will determine whether the components can be used in progressively larger photonic systems. The companies have not disclosed production yields, completed process qualification, a contract value or a timetable for commercial volume shipments.
