PsiQuantum said on Wednesday it had cracked one of the crucial challenges in quantum computing: a method to manufacture quantum chips at the volumes needed to build commercially viable machines.

Quantum technology has the potential to perform types of calculations that would stump even the most powerful artificial intelligence systems that use Nvidia chips and could unlock a host of scientific and commercial applications, including cybersecurity. The technology may help in drug discovery and in materials research.

But mass manufacturing of quantum computing chips has been a difficult problem to solve. Seeking a solution, PsiQuantum’s founders decided almost 20 years ago to pursue an approach that could be made using photonics, the same semiconductor manufacturing technology widely used in the communications industry.

The company spent ensuing years working closely with chip factories to engineer its chipset, called Omega, which is now ready for production, PsiQuantum Chief Executive Jeremy O’Brien told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

“This isn’t a breakthrough, this is actually something that has gone out of the research lab, and that is the highest level of maturity that you can achieve,” O’Brien said, referring to bringing a quantum chip to mass production.