Superconducting Qubit Fabrication in India: A Nascent Frontier

What it is

Superconducting qubits are the building blocks of many of today's most advanced quantum computers. They are tiny circuits made from materials like aluminium that lose all electrical resistance when cooled to near absolute zero, enabling quantum states to survive long enough to perform calculations. The most common design, the transmon qubit, is controlled by microwave pulses and relies on a Josephson junction—a thin insulating barrier—to create the nonlinear behaviour needed for quantum logic.

Fabrication is a semiconductor-like process on silicon wafers. It starts with depositing superconducting metal, patterning circuits with photolithography, and then forming the delicate Josephson junction through double-angle evaporation. The finished chip is wire-bonded into a sample holder and operated inside a dilution refrigerator at millikelvin temperatures, where microwave electronics manipulate the qubits. This precision manufacturing is what turns quantum theory into working processors.

The value chain

• Upstream – Substrate and materials: High-purity silicon wafers and superconducting metals (aluminium, niobium) are sourced. Material purity directly limits qubit coherence times.
• Midstream – Fabrication: Cleanroom processes including deposition, lithography, etching, and Josephson junction formation. This is where the core IP and performance differentiation reside, dominated by IBM, Google, Rigetti, and India's QpiAI.
• Midstream – Testing and packaging: Chips are diced, wire-bonded, and tested at cryogenic temperatures. Packaging must minimise thermal noise and provide clean microwave connectivity.
• Downstream – Cryogenics and control electronics: Dilution refrigerators (Bluefors, Oxford Instruments) cool chips to ~10 mK. Microwave generators, amplifiers, and control systems (Keysight, Zurich Instruments) orchestrate qubit operations.
• Downstream – Integration and cloud access: Qubit processors are integrated into full quantum computers and offered via cloud platforms (IBM Quantum, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure Quantum) for end users in drug discovery, finance, and logistics.

Where it's heading

Global efforts are pushing superconducting qubits toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. Improvements in coherence times and gate fidelities are turning error correction from a theoretical goal into an engineering milestone (Future Market Insights). At the same time, material defects like two-level system noise remain a stubborn barrier, driving research into ultraclean fabrication and novel materials (IDTechEx).

• Coherence and fidelity gains: Transmon qubits are steadily improving, with error-corrected logical qubits now within reach.
• Material science focus: Reducing TLS noise and interface defects is critical; advanced fabrication and surface treatments are active R&D areas.
• Supply chain resilience: The US is prioritising domestic capacity for critical quantum components, a trend that could influence India's own build-out (War on the Rocks).
• CMOS compatibility: Integrating superconducting qubits with classical semiconductor manufacturing is being explored for scalability, though silicon spin qubits are more naturally compatible.
• India's quantum push: The National Quantum Mission (₹6,003.65 crore, ~$750M over 2023-31) aims to build domestic capability. QpiAI launched a 25-qubit system in 2025 and targets a 64-qubit system by year-end, with local chip manufacturing expected in 2026 (LinkedIn article on India quantum landscape).

The opportunity in India

Our dataset reveals a wide-open field: only 3 patents matched to superconducting qubit fabrication and no deep-tech companies in our data explicitly reference it. This is not a sign of absence—QpiAI, a full-stack quantum startup, has already demonstrated a 25-qubit processor and raised $32 million in Series A funding—but it underscores how early India's commercial ecosystem is. The broader quantum computing market in India is projected to grow from $1 billion in 2024 to $7 billion by 2032 at a ~27% CAGR (LinkedIn article).

The white space is substantial. Fabrication, testing, and packaging of superconducting chips are almost entirely imported today. The National Quantum Mission's eight-year budget provides a window for startups and research labs to build indigenous cleanroom processes, cryogenic testing infrastructure, and control electronics. With no patent-holding startups in our dataset, the IP landscape is uncrowded, offering a first-mover advantage for those who can bridge the gap between academic research and scalable manufacturing.

India signal: patents, startups, capital

Our dataset matches only 3 patents to superconducting qubit fabrication, with steady momentum—meaning filing activity has been consistent but not surging. No deep-tech companies in our data explicitly mention this technology in their profiles, and we found zero patent-holding startups. This thin signal likely reflects both the nascent stage of the industry and the fact that key players like QpiAI may not yet appear in our patent-linked company data.

On the capital front, our dataset does not capture sector-specific funding for superconducting qubits. However, QpiAI's $32 million Series A round (LinkedIn article) stands out as the primary private investment in this space. The National Quantum Mission's ~$750 million outlay dwarfs private funding and will likely be the main catalyst for the next five years. The combination of a large government push, a single visible startup, and almost no patent thicket creates a unique, high-risk, high-reward opening for deep-tech founders and investors.

In our data

Sources

• How to make a superconducting qubit ↗
• A quantum engineer's guide to superconducting qubits ↗
• Superconducting qubits: Delicate powerhouses ↗
• The Supply Chain Chokepoints in Quantum ↗
• The Foundry's Hidden Supply Chain: Who Really Wins If ... ↗
• Material Challenges for Superconducting Quantum Chips ↗
• Quantum Computing Market Size, Share & Trends ↗
• Superconducting Quantum Chip Market | Global Market Analysis Report ↗