Airbus and PsiQuantum Aim for Quantum Leap in Aerospace Design

PALO ALTO, CA – January 13, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant step toward a new era of aviation design, aerospace leader Airbus has entered into a collaboration with quantum computing firm PsiQuantum. The partnership aims to develop and apply fault-tolerant quantum computers to solve some of the most complex challenges in aerospace engineering, beginning with the intricate physics of fluid dynamics.

Announced today, the collaboration falls under Airbus's QuLAB project and will see the two companies combine their expertise to create and validate quantum algorithms for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). By tackling these notoriously difficult simulations, the partnership intends to lay the groundwork for a future where aircraft can be designed and optimized with a level of precision and speed currently unimaginable, potentially revolutionizing aircraft performance, efficiency, and production.

Charting a Course Beyond Supercomputers

For decades, aerospace engineers have relied on CFD to simulate the flow of air around an aircraft, a critical process for predicting lift, drag, noise, and structural loads. These simulations are run on some of the world's most powerful classical supercomputers. However, even these high-performance computing (HPC) systems are hitting a wall.

The underlying equations of fluid dynamics are immensely complex. The computational resources required to achieve high-fidelity simulations often increase exponentially with the complexity of the flow, such as at high speeds or around intricate geometries. This forces engineers to make trade-offs, simplifying models or reducing simulation accuracy to stay within practical time and budget constraints. These limitations create a bottleneck, slowing down innovation in aerodynamic efficiency, noise reduction, and fuel economy.

Fault-tolerant quantum computers promise to shatter this computational barrier. By leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, these future machines are theoretically capable of modeling complex physical systems with an efficiency that classical computers can never achieve. For aerospace, this could mean simulating airflow over a full-scale digital aircraft with unprecedented accuracy, analyzing material properties at the molecular level, or optimizing complex logistical problems in real-time.

A Strategic Partnership for a Quantum Future

The alliance between an industrial giant like Airbus and a pioneering quantum hardware company like PsiQuantum is emblematic of a strategic shift occurring across major industries. Rather than waiting for quantum computers to fully mature, forward-thinking companies are actively engaging in their development to ensure they are ready to harness their power from day one.

This collaboration is a central component of Airbus's broader quantum technology strategy. The European manufacturer has been methodically building a portfolio of partnerships to explore quantum applications across its business. These include working with IonQ on aircraft loading optimization, with QC Ware on fuel-efficient flight path planning, and with Quanscient and Oxford Ionics on other CFD simulation approaches. This multi-pronged strategy demonstrates a deep commitment to integrating quantum solutions and de-risking the adoption of this transformative technology.

“As PsiQuantum prepares to build and deploy the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computers, we are working closely with world-leading companies to ensure they are prepared to take full advantage of this technology,” said Alexander Kolks, Chief Business Officer at PsiQuantum, in a statement. “Our partnership with Airbus underscores quantum computing’s game-changing potential for the aerospace industry—and our shared commitment to collaborate at the leading edge.”

From Theory to Simulation: The Technical Blueprint

At the heart of this ambition is the formidable challenge of building a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Today's quantum systems are in the "Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum" (NISQ) era, where their quantum bits, or qubits, are highly susceptible to environmental noise and errors that corrupt calculations. Fault tolerance, which uses sophisticated quantum error correction techniques, is the critical next step required to perform computations of the scale and duration needed for industrial problems.

PsiQuantum is pursuing this goal with a unique photonic approach. Instead of using trapped ions or superconducting circuits as qubits, the company uses single particles of light—photons—that travel through circuits etched onto silicon chips. This method leverages mature semiconductor manufacturing processes, which the company believes will enable it to scale to the millions of physical qubits required for fault tolerance. PsiQuantum has publicly stated its goal to have a system operational by the end of 2027.

The collaboration with Airbus is already bearing fruit. In a new research paper titled “Simulating Non-Trivial Incompressible Flows With a Quantum Lattice Boltzmann Algorithm,” researchers from both companies detail a quantum algorithm capable of simulating fluid flows under realistic conditions. The algorithm, which builds on a theoretical framework from an associated paper, is designed to handle complex geometries with features like walls, inlets, and outlets, making it directly relevant to aircraft aerodynamics. The paper validates the approach on several benchmark problems, marking a crucial move from abstract theory to practical, industry-focused application.

Building the Tools for a New Computing Paradigm

Developing algorithms for a computer that doesn't fully exist yet requires a completely new set of tools. Recognizing this gap, PsiQuantum launched its 'Construct' software suite in September 2025. Described as a comprehensive platform for designing fault-tolerant quantum algorithms, Construct provides the essential bridge between industrial problems and future quantum hardware.

The software suite includes a visual circuit designer, Python-based libraries for algorithm development, and a powerful resource analyzer that helps researchers understand the computational cost of their algorithms. This allows teams like the one at Airbus to design, prototype, and optimize their quantum CFD codes, ensuring they will run efficiently when fault-tolerant systems come online. This software infrastructure is a critical enabler of the partnership, allowing the teams to make tangible progress years before the hardware is deployed.

As researchers from PsiQuantum prepare to present their joint findings at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech 2026 Forum, the collaboration serves as a powerful illustration of the proactive work required to unlock the quantum revolution. The algorithms being refined and the expertise being built today are laying the essential groundwork for a future where aircraft design is limited not by computational power, but only by the bounds of physics and human ingenuity.