Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair and quantum technology manager Dr. Martin Fuechsle

Archer Materials has announced a new agreement with IBM which it hopes will advance quantum computing and progress work towards solutions for the greater adoption of the technology.

Joining the IBM Q Network, Archer will gain access to IBM's quantum computing expertise and resources, seeing the Sydney-based company use IBM's open-source software framework, Qiskit.

See also: Australia's ambitious plan to win the quantum race

Archer is the first Australian company that develops a quantum computing processor and hardware to join the IBM Q Network. The IBM Q Network provides access to the company's experts, developer tools, and cloud-based quantum systems through IBM Q Cloud.

"We are the first Australian company building a quantum chip to join into the global IBM Q Network as an ecosystem partner, a group of the very best organisations at the forefront of quantum computing." Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair said.

"Ultimately, we want Australian businesses and consumers to be one of the first beneficiaries of this exciting technology, and now that we are collaborating with IBM, it greatly increases our chances of success".

Archer is advancing the commercial readiness of its12CQ qubit processor chip technology towards a minimum viable product.

"We look forward to working with IBM and members of the network to address the most fundamental challenges to the wide-scale adoption of quantum computing, using our potentially complementary technologies as starting points," Choucair added.

In November, Archer said it was continuing to inch towards its goal of creating a room temperature quantum computer, announcing at the time it had assembled a three qubit array.

The company said it has placed three isolated qubits on a silicon wafer with metallic control electrodes being used for measurement. Archer has previously told ZDNet it conducts measurements by doing magnetic fields sweeps at microwave frequencies.

"The arrangement of the qubits was repeatable and reproducible, thereby allowing Archer to quickly build and test working prototypes of quantum information processing devices incorporating a number of qubits; individual qubits; or a combination of both, which is necessary to meet Archer's aim of building a chip for a practical quantum computer," the company said.

In August, the company said it hadassembled its first room-temperature quantum bit.

Archer is building chip prototypes at the Research and Prototype Foundry out of the University of Sydney's AU$150 million Sydney Nanoscience Hub.

2020s are the decade of commercial quantum computing, says IBM

IBM spent a great deal of time showing off its quantum-computing achievements at CES, but the technology is still in its very early stages.

What is quantum computing? Understanding the how, why and when of quantum computers

There are working machines today that perform some small part of what a full quantum computer may eventually do. But what are the real-world applications for quantum computing?

Quantum computing has arrived, but we still don't really know what to do with it

Even for a technology that makes a virtue of uncertainty, where quantum goes next is something of a mystery.

Quantum computing: Myths v. Realities (TechRepublic)

Futurist Isaac Arthur explains why quantum computing is a lot more complicated than classical computing.

Read this article:
Archer to work alongside IBM in progressing quantum computing - ZDNet