Category: Advanced Manufacturing

May 8, 2025

PsiQuantum inks deal for ‘critical’ local cooling tech

One of the world’s largest cryoplants ever commissioned for a quantum computer will be built and tested offshore before being installed at PsiQuantum’s mammoth manufacturing facility in Brisbane later this decade. German chemicals and engineering giant Linde has been commissioned to deliver the cryoplant that will cool the error-corrected quantum computer being built by the…

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May 8, 2025

Tariff buster: Sydney mic mogul snaps up US rival

The parent company of Sydney manufacturer Rode Microphones, The Freedman Group, has acquired Lectrosonics, a 54-year-old US maker of high-end wireless audio equipment, making it one of the largest professional audio companies in the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it was announced on Thursday as a significant acquisition for Freedman,…

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May 5, 2025

Defence tech firm Anduril to acquire Ireland’s Klas

AI-powered defence startup Anduril Industries on Monday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ireland-based tactical communications systems maker Klas. Anduril, along with software maker Palantir and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of US President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, Reuters reported last…

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April 30, 2025

Workforce boost needed to back locally made medical products

We are inside the last few days of a five-week federal election campaign and there’s been nary a mention of one of the country’s highest priority sectors – medical science. Yes, health, Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme have featured prominently, but not the sector that creates, develops and commercialises the medical products that improve…

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April 28, 2025

IBM to invest US$150b over next five years in quantum push

IBM will invest US$150 billion (A$233 billion)in the US including on facilities for quantum computer production over the next five years, the latest American technology company to back the Trump administration’s push for local manufacturing. The company’s announcement on Monday follows similar pledges by tech giants such as Nvidia and Apple, both of which have…

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April 28, 2025

MGA Thermal takes clean steam leap over valley of death

Energy storage innovator MGA Thermal has turned its sights to large scale commercial projects after proving up its proprietary technology as a clean steam alternative to gas for industry. The progress and completed demonstration facility are being unveiled Tuesday at MGA Thermal’s 5 MWh Tomago plant near Newcastle, pushing the Main Sequence backed startup almost…

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April 11, 2025

Manufacturers blast Coalition over plan to ditch NRF funds

Manufacturing workers on Friday said Australia “cannot risk” a Coalition government after the opposition promised to unwind mostly popular policy work and cut billions in legislated incentives for new industries. “Peter Dutton has voted against manufacturing workers in the parliament, now he is committed to destroying our industry and job security,” Australian Manufacturing Workers Union…

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April 10, 2025

Dutton looks to strip $15bn National Reconstruction Fund

The federal government’s $15 billion manufacturing fund could be stripped by a Dutton government, which would use around $14.5 billion from its unspent allocation for Coalition priorities. As the opposition announced on Thursday plans to establish two new funds for national debt repayments and infrastructure, the future of Labor’s National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) was thrown…

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April 8, 2025

SA defence precinct proposed to ‘cluster’ industry

A vast new defence and aerospace precinct has been proposed for the outskirts of Adelaide, as the South Australian government looks to attract more defence industry investment. A 400 hectare parcel of agricultural land neighboring the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Edinburgh Air Base has been earmarked for the precinct as part of wider economic…

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April 8, 2025

Advanced materials maker snags $1.5m scaleup grant

A Wollongong firm developing materials for use in extreme environments like air travel and nuclear waste disposal will receive $1.5 million from the federal government’s scaleup program to expand its production facilities. The Industry Growth Program grant for Gravitas Technologies was announced on Tuesday by Industry minister Ed Husic and by local member Alison Byrne,…

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April 4, 2025

Diraq, SQC tapped for DARPA quantum drive

Two local quantum computing startups have secured contracts with US defence research agency DARPA for a coveted benchmarking program designed to find the companies capable of achieving utility-scale within the next decade. Diraq and Silicon Quantum Computing will take part in the first stage of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) over the next six months,…

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March 31, 2025

Quantum outfit QuintessenceLabs lands $15m NRF boost

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has ploughed $15 million of fresh capital into Canberra-based quantum outfit QuintessenceLabs as the dominant lead investor in a $20 million round. QuintessenceLabs founder and chief executive Vikram Sharma said the funding would accelerate development of its commercial product roadmap, and to build business development capability in its major potential…

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March 31, 2025

TSMC commits to Taiwan with new domestic fab amid US expansion

TSMC said on Monday that its newly built domestic fab would add 7,000 tech jobs to the island’s economy and that it will continue to expand in Taiwan, following concern that its investment in the US will dilute its presence at home. TSMC executive vice-president and co-chief operating officer Y.P. Chyn made the comments at…

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March 28, 2025

Defence sets up US-style sovereign capability sales office

Australia will follow the United States and set up a new office dedicated to selling sovereign defence capabilities, including high-tech combat drones and radar technology, to international security partners. The Australian Defence Strategic Sales Office (ADSSO), announced as the government entered caretaker mode on Friday, will act as a central coordination platform with Defence to…

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March 26, 2025

Australia does the heavy lifting in $1.2b PsiQuantum raise

Australia’s equity stake in PsiQuantum could represent as much as a third of the Californian startup’s latest capital raise, which values the company at twice what it was worth just four years ago. Early details on the late-stage funding round emerged earlier this week, with Reuters reporting that the incomplete Series E led by investment…

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March 26, 2025

At Avalon, Anduril declares good ‘vibes’ from Trump Pentagon

Anduril president Christian Brose said the AI-powered defence startup – whose founder Palmer Luckey left Facebook over his early support of Donald Trump – has good “vibes” about the Trump administration’s shakeup of defence and willingness to do things differently. Mr Brose, who previously worked for Republican Senator John McCain, said Anduril was well positioned…

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March 23, 2025

Nine EU countries align to accelerate chip industry

Nine European Union countries are working together to accelerate plans to boost the bloc’s computer chip industry and aim to present their proposals within months, one of the coalition’s leaders said on Friday. The coalition, which includes Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, is doing “homework for the new Chips Act”, Dutch Economy Minister…

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March 20, 2025

Australia’s sole silicon manufacturer backed with $40m grant

Australia’s only silicon manufacturer has received an almost $40 million grant from the federal government, securing local supply of the key input for solar panels and semiconductors. Simcoa secured the funding under the Powering the Regions Fund on Thursday, allowing the company to remove the use of coal at its silicon processing plan in Wellesley,…

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March 20, 2025

WA green hydrogen mega-project gets an $814m headstart

The federal government will try and kickstart Australia’s large-scale green hydrogen sector with up to $814 million in production credits for a clean energy mega project 500 kilometres north of Perth. The 1,500 MW Murchison Green Hydrogen Project being developed by Danish renewable firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners was announced as the first recipient of the…

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March 19, 2025

PM heaps praise on ‘world-leading’ radar tech after $6.6bn Canada deal

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says radar technology that Canada has agreed to purchase from Australia is “world-leading” and will help forge closer ties between the two countries amid growing trade uncertainty. Canada announced the $6.6 billion partnership with Australia on Wednesday (AEDT time), setting up a program of work to deliver a new early warning…

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March 14, 2025

PM steers innovation fund to metals manufacturing

Almost half of the $1.7 billion Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund will be directed to manufacturing metals, the Prime Minister announced on Friday, just days after Australia was hit with US tariffs on steel and aluminium. $750 million from the flagship grants fund announced in the last Budget will go to developing green metal…

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March 13, 2025

$17m Swinburne hub opens to advance Australian manufacturing

Dozens of researchers and industry partners will work together to inject tools like artificial intelligence and IoT devices into Australian manufacturing operations through a new government-backed hub at Swinburne University. The Industrial Transformation Research Hub in Future Digital Manufacturing opened on Thursday at the Melbourne university after securing $17.5 million in cash and in kind…

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March 11, 2025

AIIA calls for streamlined approvals for data centres and renewables

With $26 billion expected to be invested in data centres and other AI infrastructure by 2030, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has called for a Digital Economy minister to be appointed to centralise policy coordination. In a pre-election policy statement, the AIIA said an incoming government should streamline the planning and approvals process for…

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March 10, 2025

Alfred blows away the Gilmour Space launch window

Tropical Cyclone Alfred has combined with an ongoing regulatory blizzard to blow away Gilmour Space Technologies’ launch window for the maiden flight of its Eris rocket, which was to have opened later this week on March 15. The company has not set a new date, but the delay could be as long as two weeks…

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March 10, 2025

NRF goes west with new board member

The corporation managing a $15 billion federal industry fund will establish a permanent presence in Western Australia following a request by the state government, after the fund poured almost $400 million into projects elsewhere. The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), which has offices in Sydney and Canberra, goes west with a new board member from…

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March 5, 2025

NSW manufacturing facility launches with uni partnership

NSW’s government-backed manufacturing incubator has officially launched, signing on with a new partnership between 10 of the state’s biggest universities to help translate innovative research. After a three-year wait for the first new building in the brand-new city of Bradfield, the long-awaited Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF) arrived on Wednesday. It launched on the same…

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February 27, 2025

Aussie undersea repair drone finds global success

A remotely-operated underwater drone developed by an Australian robotics startup to inspect and repair salmon aquaculture nets has begun exports to the world’s largest producer. Southern Ocean Subsea secured a $20,000 state government grant in the latest round of the Advanced Manufacturing Accelerating Growth Program to begin exporting the APAMA Net Repairer System to Norway….

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February 27, 2025

‘From lab to fab’: PsiQuantum beds down mass-made photonics chips

A 25-year journey to build an error-corrected quantum computer has taken a giant leap forward for PsiQuantum, with the Californian startup now ready for large-scale production of its photonics chips. The company with plans to build the world’s first quantum computer in Brisbane claims to have reached the point of “mass-manufacturable chips”, allowing it to…

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February 26, 2025

ARENA tips $10m into sustainable aviation fuel studies

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency will provide more than $10 million in federal grants for two feasibility studies aimed at advancing sustainable aviation fuel projects with international reach. The funding, announced by Energy minister Chris Bowen on Wednesday, will flow to recycling tech startup Licella and fuel distributor Viva Energy for two projects in Queensland….

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February 25, 2025

Govt ‘very, very close’ to naming Hydrogen Headstart winner

Energy minister Chris Bowen is sitting on recommendations for a huge public investment in green hydrogen production from a $4 billion program that is running months late. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) chief executive Darren Miller on Monday confirmed a recommendation had been provided to government for “at least one” project from a shortlist…

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