From CERN roots to quantum control: Creotech Quantum S.A.

Creotech Quantum S.A.’s story starts with three CERN workers and an unusual approach to selling electronics: give people the designs. They founded Creotech Ltd. in 2008, the predecessor of Creotech Instruments S.A. In a presentation hosted by CERN, co-founder Grzegorz Kasprowicz explained the business logic. By publishing the hardware designs, the company let customers see how the equipment worked and adapt it themselves, while earning money from building complete systems, software and support. Freely available blueprints, however, do not assemble themselves.

That scientific-electronics business took a new shape when Creotech Quantum S.A. separated from Creotech Instruments S.A. on 1 April 2026. Based in Warsaw, it began trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange later that month. Its products include quantum-control electronics, precise timing systems, scientific cameras and technology for quantum-secured communication. The control electronics turn a researcher’s instructions into electrical signals that operate the lasers, detectors and other instruments around a quantum experiment. The task is to make those instruments act together, with precise timing.

What customers actually buy

Research laboratories and quantum-computer builders buy Creotech Quantum S.A.’s electronics to control experiments without designing every circuit board themselves. Its Sinara range consists of modules with different jobs, such as generating signals, setting voltages and collecting measurements. Customers can order individual boards or an assembled system, along with training, calibration and integration support.

The boards work with ARTIQ, an open-source control system developed by M-Labs with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. Researchers describe an experiment in Python-based code, and dedicated hardware carries out the parts that need precise timing. This lets a researcher change the sequence in software while keeping the same equipment.

Laboratories used to build much of this equipment themselves. M-Labs describes how Sinara developed as a more reproducible, modular alternative to the custom hardware used in early ARTIQ installations. Using compatible boards therefore lets researchers spend more time on experiments and less time maintaining their own electronics.

An open design still needs a supplier

Creotech Quantum S.A. manufactures the boards and helps customers put them to work, but it does not develop every part of Sinara alone. Much of the hardware design comes from Warsaw University of Technology, with development and testing contributions from the company. M-Labs and QUARTIQ support the connection to ARTIQ. Creotech Quantum S.A. says its modules also work with other suppliers’ Sinara hardware.

That openness gives customers options. M-Labs itself sells assembled Sinara systems. Beyond that ecosystem, Quantum Machines offers its OPX1000 control platform, while Qblox sells its modular Cluster for qubit control and measurement. Their hardware and software differ, so the choice depends on the processor and experiment being built. Since customers can buy Sinara systems from other suppliers, Creotech Quantum S.A. has to win business through the equipment, integration and support it offers.

There is evidence that researchers value this approach. In a paper describing CERN’s AEgIS experiment, its authors cited long-term support and a community using similar equipment as reasons for moving from custom electronics and software to Sinara and ARTIQ. That supports the case for the shared platform; it does not identify the value of an order placed with Creotech Quantum S.A.

From research equipment to bigger machines

The business has already supplied equipment for European quantum-computing projects. In December 2021, Creotech Instruments S.A. reported that its Sinara products, including an amplifier called the HL Booster, were being used in AQTION. The project, coordinated by the University of Innsbruck, developed a quantum-computer prototype built into standard equipment racks. This was a documented use of the predecessor’s electronics in a working development programme.

The Millenion project takes that development work towards larger quantum computers. It uses trapped ions, charged atoms that carry quantum information. Creotech Quantum S.A. is developing electronics that change voltages to hold these ions in place and move them between trapping zones. As the number of control signals grows, so does the difficulty of connecting them to equipment inside an extremely cold enclosure. The company is therefore developing a specialised chip intended to work close to the ion trap, allowing more signals to be controlled without adding the same number of connections from outside. A larger quantum computer needs more than a larger cable drawer.

Millenion’s wider ambition reaches towards 1,000 qubits. Its first funded phase targeted a 100-qubit system, according to the European Commission. The Commission records almost €20 million of EU funding for that phase and an end date of 31 August 2026. These are consortium development objectives and funding, rather than a delivered 1,000-qubit product or Creotech Quantum S.A.’s sales.

The broader demand still draws heavily on research investment. The EU’s Quantum Technologies Flagship was launched in 2018 with an expected €1 billion budget over ten years, covering computing, communication, sensing and other research. Control electronics receive part of the spending needed to build those systems. For Creotech Quantum S.A., the commercial opportunity is to turn project engineering into products that customers order again as they build more machines.

Keeping distant devices in step

Precise timing is also useful beyond a single quantum experiment. Creotech Quantum S.A.’s White Rabbit switches, interface boards and engineering support help equipment share a clock across a network. A radio telescope, for example, needs to align measurements from different antennas. The readings only make sense together if the equipment agrees on when they were taken.

Developed at CERN with partners, White Rabbit measures and compensates for delays in network links so its specialist hardware can keep clocks aligned to less than a billionth of a second. Researchers can then compare measurements taken far apart without mistaking a clock error for something interesting in the data. The company’s published examples include timing equipment supplied to CERN, FAIR/GSI and the LOFAR radio telescope.

From shared clocks to shared keys

That ability to synchronise distant equipment also supports Creotech Quantum S.A.’s work on quantum key distribution, or QKD. The company is developing equipment that helps organisations share secret encryption keys between sites. Its proposed system connects a transmitter and a receiver over fibre, using White Rabbit to keep them synchronised. Banks, telecom operators and public institutions are potential users; the company currently offers consultations and pilot projects.

QKD uses optical signals to establish matching secret keys at the two sites. Attempts to measure those signals can introduce detectable disturbances, so the devices check the results and process them into usable keys. Those keys then pass to an ordinary encryption system, which protects the data. QKD thus supplies the keys rather than encrypting the data itself. The devices and the communication used to check results still need to be secured.

Financial facts

The split makes the first accounts easy to misread. Creotech Quantum S.A.’s statutory first-quarter accounts cover the legal entity before the operating business transferred. Management also published an illustrative view of that business, using estimates to allocate shared costs.

Illustrative figures for January to March, in PLN million, from the company’s first-quarter report:

Product sales more than doubled, while grants provided roughly 38% of the combined product-sales and grant-income total in Q1 2026. Customer invoices and research funding both support the business, but they come from different sources. The profit figure also reflects management’s cost allocations, rather than a full quarter of running independently.

Separately, the company raised PLN 81.2 million before expenses through a May 2026 share issue. It said the proceeds would support research, engineering and testing facilities, commercial expansion and potentially acquisitions.

Explore Creotech Quantum S.A.’s financial statements and reporting context.

Following the business after the split

Creotech Quantum S.A. scheduled its half-year report for 30 September 2026, covering the first months after the operating business transferred. Management had warned that setup costs would affect the early reporting periods. Those costs matter when comparing the separate company’s accounts with the illustrative figures above, because the two describe different stages of the business.

Visit the Creotech Quantum S.A. company profile.