Insider Brief
- QFX, an Oxford University spinout, has secured a £6.8 million Innovate UK contract to develop atomic and vacuum hardware for data centre timing and space applications.
- The SrROCK Phase II programme will build a compact, low-power strontium optical-clock package, demonstrate its timing performance and conduct testing relevant to future satellite missions.
- The programme aims to establish UK manufacturing capacity and intellectual property for advanced atomic and vacuum systems while supporting QFX’s development of distributed quantum computing and networking hardware.
PRESS RELEASE — QFX (Quantum Fabrix Ltd), an Oxford University spinout developing hardware infrastructure for distributed quantum computing and quantum networking, has been awarded a £6.8 million contract by Innovate UK to deliver Phase II of its SrROCK development programme. Building on a successful first phase, SrROCK will advance QFX’s atomic source and vacuum technologies into robust, integrated hardware for data centre and space applications.
QFX’s technology platform combines atomic sources, ultra-high-vacuum systems and quantum interfaces in a modular architecture for demanding data centre and space applications. This approach gives QFX access to near-term opportunities in timing and navigation while building towards fault-tolerant distributed quantum computing.
“SrROCK gives QFX the opportunity to prove that its core atomic and vacuum technologies can be manufactured and qualified for demanding real-world applications. That capability is essential to scaling our quantum-computing platform and creates a clear route into the strategically important timing market, supporting sovereign UK supply of advanced timing technology.” Dr Timothy Ballance, CEO, QFX
In Phase II, QFX will engineer and integrate a compact, low-power strontium optical-clock physics package for timing infrastructure in data centres and future satellite missions. The programme will demonstrate timing performance and complete space-relevant testing, generating the evidence needed for customer adoption and future space qualification. Engagement with data centre operators, spacecraft manufacturers, mission operators and end users will define deployment requirements, commercial pathways and plans for a subsequent space demonstration.
SrROCK Phase II will strengthen sovereign UK capability in foundational quantum technologies by establishing domestic manufacturing, quality assurance and intellectual property for advanced atomic and vacuum systems. It will support highly skilled jobs and create export opportunities across space and quantum supply chains, while expanding the industrial capability behind QFX’s distributed quantum computing and networking business.
Who is QFX?
Founded as an Oxford University spinout, QFX is developing the hardware layer that underpins fault tolerant distributed quantum computing. In 2025, QFX raised £2 million in an investment round led by Silicon Valley investor and Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham to accelerate the development of its technology platform.
QFX is led by Dr Timothy Ballance, who established Infleqtion’s UK subsidiary and built it into a 50-person business delivering quantum products and the flagship SQALE neutral-atom quantum computer to the NQCC.
QFX’s leadership team also includes COO Sadie Mansell, an experienced operations leader formerly of Infleqtion UK, and CSO Dr Laurent Stephenson, formerly of NIST and Oxford, who brings expertise in trapped-ion quantum networking. CTO Dr Joe Goodwin and CIO Dr Peter Drmota are Oxford University researchers whose work respectively focuses on connecting trapped ions with light and linking quantum processors into larger systems.