New Delhi, May 1 -- Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan became the latest technocrat to embrace quantum computing on Thursday as privately held PsiQuantum announced he would be joining the company's board.

It's a big step for someone who has previously cited quantum computing as a strategic priority. Back in February, Tan described quantum as "another big area coming up is around the corner" in relation to how large amounts of data are processed.

Even before then, the executive had ties to PsiQuantum and other players in the industry. Tan said in a news release Thursday that he had followed PsiQuantum for years as an investor. PsiQuantum aspires to build "the world's first useful quantum computer" and aims to do so through photonics, an approach that ...