CAMBRIDGE (Britain): Toshiba Corp. opened a commercial hub in the British city of Cambridge on Friday to step up its effort to promote quantum technology.

The Japanese tech conglomerate will invest some 20 million pounds in the Quantum Technology Center over the next five years. The center will develop quantum cryptography and manufacture related devices.

The center has an initial staff of about 40 and will create over 30 more jobs.

Toshiba, which will be acquired by a consortium led by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners Inc., sees quantum technology as one of key growth areas, according to Shunsuke Okada, president and CEO of Toshiba Digital Solutions Corp.

At a ceremony held at the center on Friday to mark its opening, Toshiba President and CEO Taro Shimada said quantum is a real-world technology that will be the ultimate method of data protection.

Lord Johnson, minister of investment in the British Department for Business and Trade, and Japanese Ambassador to Britain Hajime Hayashi also attended the ceremony.

JIJI Press