The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) launched the National Quantum Fab Research Institute last December and held a groundbreaking ceremony for a quantum fab research building. The facility, with more than 45 billion won ($33 million) in total investment, is targeted for completion in 2027 and operation in 2028. It will be Korea's largest open-access quantum device fab, dedicated to researching and establishing quantum processing unit (QPU) chip fabrication processes. A "Quantum Nano Fab" also opened on June 13 at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) campus. With 30 billion won invested, the facility can perform the entire cycle from quantum device design to fabrication, analysis, verification and demonstration in a single space.
According to science and technology officials on June 23, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) plans to build additional quantum fab-centered manufacturing infrastructure this year in the Seoul metropolitan area and other regions, following facilities in Daejeon and Ulsan. Quantum devices require far more demanding manufacturing environments than conventional semiconductors. Even minute temperature fluctuations, vibrations, electromagnetic noise and dust particles can significantly degrade performance. Moreover, the field is still in its early stages with multiple platforms coexisting — including photonic, superconducting, neutral atom, ion trap and semiconductor spin approaches — making it difficult to rely on a single standardized process. "If we rely on overseas foundries, the process technology and know-how that should be accumulated domestically could leak out," said Cho Yong-hoon, director of the KAIST National Quantum Fab Research Institute.
Efforts to develop QPUs themselves are also continuing. The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is pursuing QPU development on two tracks: superconducting and neutral atom. In the superconducting field, KRISS plans to offer cloud-based pilot access to its internally developed 20-qubit-class system to domestic researchers starting in the second half of this year, with a next target of achieving a 50-qubit-class system. In the neutral atom field, KRISS is working with SDT, LG Electronics (066570.KS), Wooshin Kiyeon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University on developing a 1,000-qubit-class platform based on ytterbium.
Materials, parts and equipment companies are also emerging as a key pillar in expanding the ecosystem. "Data centers currently operating graphics processing unit (GPU) and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters are seeking new computing power," said Yoon Ji-won, CEO of SDT. "Demand is emerging to adopt quantum computers in a hybrid server format combined with GPUs." Lee Dong-han, CEO of Bright Quantum, also said, "Even though quantum computer performance is currently lower than supercomputers, U.S. companies in finance and other industries are increasing quantum investment based on the judgment that it will become a game changer once it surpasses a certain level."
Experts emphasize that while Korea's QPU technology lags behind leading countries such as the United States, "the real competition starts now." Korea may have been a late starter in first-generation quantum computing, but areas such as QPU high-density integration, miniaturization of components inside cryogenic systems and integration of room-temperature control circuits are fields where even overseas players have only just begun development. "Tasks such as increasing QPU density and reducing device volume are at a stage where foreign countries have also just started, and we are conducting research as well," said Lee Yong-ho, division director at KRISS. "As current quantum computers are first-generation, we expect that in second-generation quantum computing, Korea can rise into the leading group, if not the very top."