New Zealand and Korea Team Up on Quantum Communication

Three joint projects aim to make long-distance quantum-secure networks cheaper, more compact and more interoperable.

New Zealand and South Korea have announced a new wave of bilateral quantum communication projects, signalling how seriously mid-sized nations now take quantum-secure networking. The three initiatives, funded under the New Zealand–Korea Joint Research Partnerships Programme, target key bottlenecks in turning laboratory quantum links into real-world infrastructure.

According to reporting from The Quantum Insider, one flagship project will develop quantum repeaters based on rare-earth quantum memories integrated into photonic circuits. These devices are designed to catch, store and re-emit fragile quantum states of light, extending ultra-secure quantum key distribution (QKD) from metropolitan fibres to inter-city and international distances without destroying the encoded information. 

A second project focuses on a chip-scale quantum light source for affordable QKD. Current quantum communication setups often rely on bulky, expensive optical equipment. By putting single-photon sources and related circuitry onto compact chips, the partners hope to create hardware that can be manufactured at scale and slotted into existing telecom networks, pushing QKD closer to mainstream deployment. 

The third line of work tackles a subtler challenge: interfacing optical and microwave quantum systems. Many long-distance quantum communication schemes use photons in optical fibres, while leading quantum processors—such as superconducting qubits—operate at microwave frequencies inside cryogenic fridges. The joint project aims to build a signal “bridge” that allows these two worlds to talk to each other, a crucial ingredient for future distributed quantum networks linking remote quantum computers and sensors. 

New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) emphasised that quantum communication could underpin safer online banking, secure health-data sharing and protection against cyber threats, noting that the 2025 funding round deliberately concentrated on this theme. The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies is administering the call on the New Zealand side, using the government’s Catalyst Fund, while Korean partners contribute engineering and manufacturing strengths. 

Conclusions

The partnership illustrates how quantum networking is shifting from abstract physics to targeted engineering problems: loss in fibres, hardware cost, and cross-platform compatibility. By jointly investing in repeaters, integrated light sources and hybrid interfaces, New Zealand and Korea are not just securing future communications—they are positioning themselves as component suppliers in the emerging global quantum-internet stack. If successful, these projects could provide blueprints for other countries looking to turn national research strengths into strategic infrastructure.