ORCA Computing

A London company, founded by Oxford physicists, that builds photonic quantum computers and installs them in data centres and national labs.

About ORCA Computing

ORCA Computing builds quantum computers that use light. Instead of the electrons or atoms used by other designs, its machines use single particles of light, called photons, as the carriers of quantum information. Its PT Series systems are modular and are designed to run at room temperature and alongside ordinary computing equipment, which makes them easier to install in data centres than machines that need to be cooled to extremely low temperatures. The company describes a modular quantum computing platform using photonic technology and says it aims to bring quantum computing into the infrastructure that businesses already use for AI and high-performance computing.

ORCA started in 2019 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford. The Quantum Zeitgeist directory names Professor Ian Walmsley, Richard Murray and Josh Nunn as founders, and Richard Murray is chief executive. Mr Murray has talked about the aim of delivering practical quantum computing, and in a 2025 announcement the company aimed for commercial quantum advantage in 2026, meaning a quantum computer doing something useful faster than a conventional one. That is the company's target, not a result we have verified.

ORCA is based in London. In 2025 its PT Series system was installed at the UK's National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) at Harwell, which it described as the first photonic quantum system installed at a UK public-sector site. The system was running within 36 hours of installation, according to the company. In June 2026 ORCA announced that its systems would join Digital Realty's Innovation Lab in London, where customers can test them in a real data centre. Partners named include NVIDIA, Toyota Tsusho and the University of Edinburgh's Quantum Software Lab.

A third-party listing puts ORCA at 51 to 100 full-time staff. We found little first-hand material on workplace culture. What the public record does show is a company that delivers real machines to customers on schedule, which suggests a practical engineering culture, although that is our reading and not the company's own words.

Teams at a photonic quantum company include optical and photonics engineers, physicists, electronics and software engineers who build the control systems, and people who work with customers on early use cases such as optimisation and machine learning. Physics, engineering and computer science are the usual starting points. ORCA's website lists what is open at present.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Modular quantum computers that use photons and run alongside classical computing equipment.', 'title': 'PT Series photonic systems'}
• {'desc': 'Using quantum hardware together with AI and high-performance computing.', 'title': 'Hybrid quantum-classical computing'}
• {'desc': 'Systems hosted at the NQCC and a London data-centre lab for customer trials.', 'title': 'Testbed access'}

Key facts

• Spun out of the University of Oxford in 2019; Richard Murray is co-founder and CEO
• PT Series installed at the UK National Quantum Computing Centre in 2025, the first photonic system at a UK public-sector site
• London-based; systems joined Digital Realty's London Innovation Lab (June 2026)
• 51 to 100 full-time staff (third-party listing)

Website: orcacomputing.com