The application opportunities are often presented to justify the UK’s significant R&I investment, however there is little discussion nor attention to the opportunities for manufacturing equipment manufacturers.
For effective production of quantum devices there will need to be new machinery and processing capabilities but these demands are poorly conveyed to UK companies who might have interest to engage.
Loxham Precision have built an ultra precision machine tool for quantum device fabrication in the research sector. The opportunity was secured more by chance than by organised collaboration.
Gaining greater awareness of future manufacturing opportunities and the associated technical needs should be laid out in some form of road-map. This might help ensure some of the necessary production systems/technologies are UK sourced.
What manufacturing technologies are needed to unlock the wealth generating attributes of Quantum? Where can the UK be strong? Who should be working together for UK maximising the opportunities of QT?