UK to roll out quantum computers by early 2030s
Key Points
- UK spending £1 billion on large-scale quantum computers by early 2030s
- First country to roll out quantum computers at scale
- Machines targeted at personalised treatments and disease cures
- British Business Bank invested £40m in Quantum Motion in May 2026
- ProQure programme launches in year two of the strategy
The UK will spend £1 billion to procure large-scale quantum computers by the early 2030s, becoming the first country in the world to roll out quantum computers at scale.
The Department for Business and Trade confirmed the programme in its Industrial Strategy Year One report, indicating that the machines will help deliver personalised medical treatments, identify potential cures for diseases, safeguard national security and deliver high-paid jobs.
Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way to conventional machines, making them suited to problems such as simulating molecules for drug discovery that today’s supercomputers cannot crack.
For patients, the government’s stated ambition is treatments tailored to individuals and faster routes to new medicines.
British firms will be central to the rollout. Quantum Motion, a spin-out from the University of Oxford and University College London, builds quantum computers on standard silicon chips, the same material as conventional electronics, providing a pathway to scaling through existing manufacturing infrastructure.
The company deployed a full-stack quantum computer built on standard silicon chips at the UK National Quantum Computing Centre, a world first, and has potential applications across drug discovery, finance and cybersecurity.
The British Business Bank invested £40 million in the company in May 2026 as part of a $160 million Series C round, following a £5 million investment in its 2023 Series B. The firm has progressed to Stage B of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which is testing whether a commercially useful quantum computer can be realised by 2033 through rigorous validation of competing technological approaches.
The Bank has separately committed £100 million to Oxford Quantum Circuits, one of the government’s recent equity stakes in ventures supporting national security and technological leadership.
Year two of the strategy includes phase one of the ProQure programme to identify, grow and deploy world-leading quantum computing capabilities.
The push sits within nearly £4 billion of UK Research and Innovation investment in frontier technologies to 2029/30, plus up to £750 million for the UK’s largest supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh, with the tender for the new National Supercomputer launching in 2026.
The first cohort of PhD students also starts at the new Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Semiconductor Skills, alongside 400 bursary students under the Semiconductor Skills Programmes, feeding the workforce the rollout will need.
