Korea's Quantum Component Firms Already Commercializing, Call for Industrial Links

Compared to the United States, China and Europe, Korea's quantum computing industry is admittedly a latecomer. Yet with no dominant global leader established, Korean companies are carving out niches across the quantum ecosystem. Quantum materials, components and equipment firms, in particular, are steadily gaining scale.

According to the "2025 Quantum White Paper" recently published by the Korean government on June 23, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in the global quantum market are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 20.1% from 2025 to 2035 — outpacing large corporations (16.3%) and government and military sectors (18.4%). In Korea, the startup and SME quantum market is expected to expand from 37.7 billion won to 188.9 billion won over the same period, growing at an annual average of 17.5%.

Industry insiders agree that early-stage commercialization has already begun, led by materials, components and equipment companies. Yoon Ji-won, CEO of SDT, a quantum computing solutions provider, said, "Data centers are currently operating GPUs and high-performance computing clusters and are searching for new computing power. Demand is emerging for hybrid server configurations that combine quantum computers with GPUs."

Lee Dong-han, CEO of BrightQuantum, a single-photon source developer, said, "Even though quantum computer performance is currently lower than supercomputers, U.S. companies in finance and other industries are sharply increasing quantum-related investment, betting that once performance crosses a certain threshold, it will become a game changer."

The activities of component firms are expected to serve as connective links binding the quantum ecosystem together. "The quantum computer industry is a systems industry that cannot stand on a QPU (quantum processing unit) alone," Yoon said. "A real quantum computer requires cryogenic equipment, control systems, measurement instruments and communications and security technologies — only with all of these does it become a viable industry."

Given the reality that Korea cannot immediately nurture full-stack quantum computer companies like those in the United States, securing these foundational technologies first could lead to indigenous manufacturing capabilities down the road.

Lee Jun-gu, CEO of Qunova, offered a similar assessment. "Korea should secure technology in the hardware components sector and ultimately advance toward manufacturing Korean-made quantum computers," he said. "If we focus on components, we can achieve industrial competitiveness on the world stage." He added, "In software, no single player has established dominance the way hardware leaders have, so there is ample opportunity for Korea."

Calls are growing for public-sector participation to forge these industrial links. France's government, for example, purchased Pasqal's 100-qubit quantum computer through GENCI, the national supercomputing agency, connected it to a supercomputer and opened access to industry and researchers. Pasqal's infrastructure is currently being used in France for research including electric vehicle smart-charging optimization. Rather than subsidies or tax incentives, the government became a direct customer, bridging hardware companies and end users.

An industry official said, "It takes a long time to build quantum computer manufacturers like Pasqal or IonQ, so we need to grow our strengths in materials, components and equipment while the public sector serves as a catalyst. This is how we should bridge the gap until actual quantum computers are developed."