While much of the quantum industry's focus remains on developing powerful quantum computers, one South Korean startup is taking a more practical path—using quantum sensing to reduce energy waste in real-world industrial environments. At Quantum Korea 2026, the country's largest quantum science and technology exhibition, deep-tech company xDots unveiled xEnergy, an AI-powered energy management platform built around its diamond-based quantum sensor, xSee.

Rather than simply reporting how much electricity a facility consumes, the platform is designed to identify exactly when, where, and why energy is being wasted. By analyzing electrical activity in real time, the system delivers recommendations that can improve efficiency without disrupting operations.

Figure 1. Diamonds with NV Defects.

"xEnergy accurately pinpoints when factory equipment wastes the most power and how operation cycles should be adjusted to be efficient," said Woodo Lee, founder and CEO of xDots. If its early industrial trials continue to deliver similar results, the technology could become one of the first commercially successful applications of quantum sensing in everyday industrial operations. Figure 1 shows diamonds with NV defects.

Turning Diamond Defects into Quantum Sensors

Monitoring energy use across factories, data centers, and commercial buildings is challenging because conventional sensors often miss the subtle electrical changes that signal inefficiencies or equipment problems.

xDots addresses this with diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers—microscopic defects inside a diamond crystal that give it unique quantum sensing capabilities. These room-temperature sensors can detect tiny changes in magnetic fields and electrical currents with exceptional precision, making them suitable for real-world industrial environments.

Combining Quantum Sensing, AI, and IoT

The xEnergy platform brings together three technologies. Its xSee sensor uses diamond NV centers and IoT hardware to monitor electrical current and energy flow with a claimed accuracy of ±0.01%. The data is analyzed by AI and displayed through the xMon dashboard, while xOpt recommends equipment and scheduling adjustments to reduce energy waste without affecting productivity.

According to xDots CEO Woodo Lee, the system is designed for high-energy environments, including manufacturing plants, data centers, office complexes, and public facilities.

Promising Early Results

To validate the technology, xDots conducted several proof-of-concept projects with industrial partners. The company reports energy savings of 15% to 30% in refrigeration, cold-storage, and industrial pump applications, while an HVAC optimization project has already entered commercial deployment.

At Quantum Korea 2026, xDots also demonstrated xSee tracking direct current and detecting rapid power fluctuations in real time. Although part of the demonstration relied on previously collected industrial data due to exhibition constraints, the showcase highlighted how quantum sensing is moving beyond the laboratory and into practical industrial applications.

Quantum Technology Finds an Early Commercial Role

The reported energy savings highlight an important trend within the quantum industry. While large-scale quantum computing remains under development, quantum sensors are already proving capable of solving practical industrial problems by measuring physical phenomena with extraordinary precision.

By focusing on energy optimization rather than computational breakthroughs, xDots illustrates how quantum technologies may first achieve widespread commercial adoption through sensing applications. Even so, the company's performance figures are currently based primarily on pilot projects [1]. Broader independent validation across multiple industries will be necessary to determine whether the reported energy savings can be consistently replicated at scale.

If those results hold, quantum sensing could emerge as one of the earliest and most impactful real-world applications of quantum technology, helping industries improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, and lower energy consumption long before quantum computers become commonplace.

Reference:

1. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/diamond-quantum-sensor-detects-energy-losses

Cite this article:

Keerthana S (2026), Tiny Diamond Sensor Pinpoints Power Losses Inside Data Centers, AnaTechMaz, pp.199.