# Drill Down, Ep. #253: Xanadu Quantum Technologies (CLUM:NASDAQ) CEO Christian Weedbrook Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drill-down-3488983/drill-down-ep-253-xanadu-quantum-technologies-clum-nasdaq-ceo-christian-weedbrook Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drill-down-3488983/drill-down-ep-253-xanadu-quantum-technologies-clum-nasdaq-ceo-christian-weedbrook.md Podcast: [The Drill Down](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drill-down-3488983) Published: 2026-03-27T07:40:00+00:00 Episode link: https://chrt.fm/track/A5CGBD/traffic.megaphone.fm/CSN3743889272.mp3?updated=1774598105 Audio file: https://chrt.fm/track/A5CGBD/traffic.megaphone.fm/CSN3743889272.mp3?updated=1774598105 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-drill-down-3488983/episodes/drill-down-ep-253-xanadu-quantum-technologies-clum-nasdaq-ceo-christian-weedbrook Duration seconds: 1529 ## Resource Xanadu is heading toward the public markets with a SPAC transaction that could deliver roughly $500 million in gross proceeds, putting fresh scrutiny on whether photonic quantum computing can move beyond being a science project. CEO Christian Weedbrook lays out why Xanadu believes networking quantum systems across server racks changes the scaling equation, and where optical loss and error correction still threaten timelines. The conversation explains how PennyLane became one of the most widely used quantum software platforms, and why software adoption may matter more than qubit counts. Weedbrook also addresses what commercial workloads might realistically arrive before fault tolerance, and which won’t. With backers including Advanced Micro Devices, the stakes are no longer academic — they’re financial, operational and soon to be public. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-drill-down-3488983/episodes/drill-down-ep-253-xanadu-quantum-technologies-clum-nasdaq-ceo-christian-weedbrook/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-drill-down-3488983/drill-down-ep-253-xanadu-quantum-technologies-clum-nasdaq-ceo-christian-weedbrook.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.