The Quantum Computer Being Built by UC Chile and the Challenges of its Industrial Application In collaboration with Federico Santa María Technical University, UC Chile was awarded the 2025 grant Research Rings Competition in Specific Thematic Areas from the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID, as per its acronym in Spanish) to begin building this computer that will work with multiple iterations of a problem simultaneously, efficiently finding an optimal solution. A quantum computer is used to solve a decision-making problem. It can quickly find the most efficient solution, since it analyzes every possible path simultaneously, which takes it directly to all possible solutions in real time. “For example, a truck delivering supplies has different routes to visit 20 cities, and from every possible combination of routes, the quantum computer determines which is optimal, in terms of minimizing time, distance travelled, or fuel consumption,” says Dardo Goyeneche, faculty member from the UC Chile Institute of Physics. “A traditional computer can do this as well, but it tests each route one by one, while the quantum computer explores all routes at once, and selects the optimal one, making it much faster.” Goyeneche, along with Jerónimo Maze, faculty member from the UC Chile Institute of Physics, and Ariel Norambuena, professor from Federico Santa María Technical University, are working in building Quantü, a computer that uses the laws of quantum mechanics for data processing, with the aim of contributing to the long-term resolution of scientific, technological, and industrial challenges in Chile. The initiative was awarded by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID, as per its acronym in Spanish) in the 2025 version of the grant Research Rings Competition in Specific Thematic Areas, in the category of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing, and was one of the three selected projects nationwide.