NVision publishes a molecular approach to making quantum chips

German startup NVision published research in Nature on October 28 describing organic molecules that could form a thin quantum-computing layer on conventionally manufactured chips. The company also announced a partnership with US chipmaker HyperLight to make its first chips.

NVision dates the discovery behind the approach to 2022, during work to improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It says a 2025 study demonstrated control of quantum states in groups of carbene molecules, before its move to individual molecules in 2026.

What the molecules do

NVision used superintelligence (SI) to simulate hundreds of candidate molecules, then physically synthesized about 40 before selecting one for the proposed chip application. Chief technology officer Ilai Schwartz called it a “Goldilocks” molecule in an interview with Reuters.

The company describes its molecular quantum units, or qubits, as engineered carbenes. Their design uses spin, a quantum property of electrons and atomic nuclei. NVision says laser excitation produces controlled emission of individual photons—particles of light—from an electron spin, while a longer-lived nuclear spin stores quantum information. That connection between spin and light is intended to let molecular qubits communicate through optical chips.

For its 2026 laboratory milestone, NVision reports controlled manipulation of individual molecular spins and a connection between those spins and photons. The coherence exceeded 2 milliseconds—the time a quantum state remains usable. Separately, its platform description lists operation at 2–4 kelvins, a cryogenic temperature range close to absolute zero.

Analysis

From molecules to chips

The proposed manufacturing step is to deposit the molecules as a thin organic film on a chip. The comparison with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) smartphone displays concerns the use of organic materials and established thin-layer manufacturing techniques.

NVision says films roughly 20–100 nanometres thick could be printed directly onto optical cavities in photonic chips, which handle light. It argues that using existing photonics manufacturing infrastructure could reduce the need to develop an entirely new production system. Whether integrated chips can compute reliably and be manufactured at scale remains an open question.

NVision has raised a cumulative $120 million from public and private sources. CEO Sella Brosh said the company intends to handle chip fabrication, molecule deposition and error correction—the work of detecting and correcting errors in quantum information—rather than sell only its molecules.

The partnership with HyperLight is the announced next step toward making the first chips. Brosh’s eventual goal is a complete computer ready to install in an equipment rack.