Amazon will base its quantum team at a new centre on the campus of Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., which officially opens this week.

Caltech described it as the first "corporate-partnership building" on the university's campus, showing "Caltech's interests in bringing fundamental science to the marketplace".

The investment reflects growing corporate interest in quantum computers, which are still at an early stage of development but could someday crack problems that existing computers can't, such as identifying new materials to capture and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or new chemical compounds to treat intractable diseases.

In the defence sphere, some scientists believe quantum computers might someday be able to break existing forms of encryption, making them a hot development priority for the United States, China and other nations.