Xanadu is heading toward the public markets with a SPAC transaction that could deliver roughly $500 million in gross proceeds, putting fresh scrutiny on whether photonic quantum computing can move beyond being a science project. CEO Christian Weedbrook lays out why Xanadu believes networking quantum systems across server racks changes the scaling equation, and where optical loss and error correction still threaten timelines.

The conversation explains how PennyLane became one of the most widely used quantum software platforms, and why software adoption may matter more than qubit counts. Weedbrook also addresses what commercial workloads might realistically arrive before fault tolerance, and which won’t. With backers including Advanced Micro Devices, the stakes are no longer academic — they’re financial, operational and soon to be public.

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