PsiQuantum shifts Brisbane quantum project to Moreton Bay

PsiQuantum has moved its Australian utility-scale quantum-computer project to Moreton Bay Central, north of Brisbane, taking a long-promoted Queensland plan into active construction. The site replaces the Brisbane Airport precinct previously linked to the build, with PsiQuantum saying the new location better suits the space, power and logistics demands of the facility.

The relocation gives Queensland and Canberra a more tangible marker for a project already carrying public money and political attention. Instead of another funding announcement, the decision fixes the build around a named industrial site, construction activity and a revised local story.

PsiQuantum has described the move as an execution call. The company said Moreton Bay Central offers the services and room needed for the machine’s footprint. That puts the project into a different register: power access, transport links and construction sequencing now matter as much as the original national-technology pitch.

Australian Financial Review reporting said the Moreton Bay site replaces the earlier plan at the Brisbane Airport precinct, which framed the project when PsiQuantum first secured government backing for its Australian build. The local project update quoted PsiQuantum Australia chief technical director Geoff Pryde saying the airport precinct had been “a natural fit” for the facility. Moreton Bay is now being presented as the better match for the next stage.

PsiQuantum’s public explanation has centred on pace and partnerships.

“PsiQuantum’s mission to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer requires speed, agility and strong partnerships.”

• Victor Peng, PsiQuantum

Peng said the Moreton Bay Central site offered those conditions as the company moved from design and procurement into the physical build. The announcement did not set out a fresh full schedule. Business News Australia reported the facility is now targeting operations in 2029, while the plan still carries the $940 million in combined federal and Queensland government support announced in 2024. The site notice does not say whether that date is a contractual milestone or an internal planning target.

Local backers are pitching the site switch as an industry-development move, not only a laboratory build. Choose Brisbane said PsiQuantum expects the project to create 400 direct jobs by the early 2030s. A Mandala report commissioned by the company projected 2,800 peak jobs by 2031 and $5.1 billion in economic benefits. Those figures are project forecasts rather than evidence of progress on the facility itself.

“This investment will help drive highly skilled jobs, attract new industry, and strengthen Queensland’s position in advanced manufacturing and future technologies.”

• Peter Flannery, City of Moreton Bay

The revised site also fits Queensland’s attempt to make Brisbane and its outer-growth corridor a base for frontier-computing infrastructure. For digitalblog readers, the key change is practical: PsiQuantum now has a named site, visible works and a timetable that can be checked against progress on the ground.

That still leaves the harder test beyond the worksite images. PsiQuantum has to keep the schedule intact, turn public funding into a working facility and prove its quantum-computing technology can scale past announcement-stage ambition. Moreton Bay gives the company a real next test.