SkyWater Technology and Qolab partner for Midwest foundry of superconducting quantum devices

SkyWater Technology and Qolab have unveiled a multi-year commercial partnership aimed at moving superconducting technology out of custom, one-off development programs and into repeatable, scalable wafer production. The deal brings together platform-based wafer services, set production terms, and joint capacity planning.

The arrangement gives Qolab better forward visibility as it grows, while building a commercial framework meant to expand adoption of SkyWater's superconducting technologies more broadly. As part of this shift, SkyWater is putting money into dedicated quantum tooling upgrades, part of a wider push to modernize its fabrication facilities.

Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater's President and CEO, said quantum technologies are outgrowing the lab and now need manufacturing models built specifically for their demands. He described the Qolab partnership as an example of SkyWater's Technology-as-a-Service approach, which pairs specialized process development with production-focused wafer services inside an established foundry setting  a combination he said speeds progress toward differentiated quantum technology in a way that benefits the industry at large.

As the field matures, companies increasingly need specialized fabrication resources delivered through a disciplined, commercial foundry setup. Both companies frame this as a first-of-its-kind arrangement that creates an open, capital-efficient model linking quantum technology development to repeatable wafer manufacturing, while adding consistency and clearer commercial planning.

Under the agreement, Qolab becomes a lead customer for SkyWater's newly introduced SC250 superconducting platform, using it to advance its Quantum System-in-Package (QSiP) design. QSiP is meant to tackle major cost, complexity, and size challenges that come with scaling quantum systems, by packing cryogenic wiring, low-pass filters, and amplifiers into a single compact unit. The partnership connects SkyWater's superconducting fabrication platform with Qolab's back-end packaging, integration, and testing operations in Wisconsin, forming a coordinated Midwest manufacturing pipeline for superconducting quantum devices.

Dr. John Martinis, Qolab's Chief Technology Officer, said SkyWater's proven history supporting quantum programs gives Qolab immediate access to the specialized capabilities its QSiP work requires. He noted that QSiP aims to meaningfully improve the economics of quantum systems by consolidating expensive, complicated cryogenic control hardware into a compact package, and that pairing SkyWater's flexible, fast-moving development support with a repeatable commercial wafer model gives Qolab the cost and manufacturing clarity needed to move quickly toward commercial-scale deployment.

On the commercial and financial side, the companies describe the agreement as unprecedented in that it combines custom technology development with a path toward fixed, high-volume unit production costs. SkyWater is also upgrading its superconducting fabrication tools as part of a broader fab-wide modernization effort, building on its long track record of developing specialized process capabilities. Qolab's adoption of the SC250 platform is presented as validation of SkyWater's Technology-as-a-Service model, offering a template that other quantum hardware developers could follow and potentially speeding up the industry's shift from custom fabs to foundry-based manufacturing. Finally, by linking SkyWater's specialized fabrication capabilities in Minnesota with Qolab's design and testing expertise in Wisconsin, the partnership is described as a unique, first-of-its-kind regional ecosystem intended to also help accelerate workforce development in the area.