IBM Q System One

Hyper-accurate long-term weather forecasting. Life-saving drugs discovered through deep study of the behavior of complex molecules. New synthetic carbon-capturing materials to help reverse climate change caused by fossil fuels. Stable, long-lasting batteries to power electric vehicles and store green energy for the utility grid.

It may read like an ambitious wish list. But many scientists predict that the emerging era of quantum computing could lead to breakthroughs like these, while also tackling other major problems that are beyond reach of our current computing regime.

Quantum computing is not a new idea. But its only been in recent years that workable technology has begun to catch up to the theory.

IBM in 2016 made a quantum computer available to the public by connecting it to the clouda true turning point in the development of this technology by enabling outside researchers and developers to explore its possibilities. And the industry took a major stride in September 2019 with the opening of IBMs Quantum Computation Center. That fleet of 15 systems includes the most advanced quantum computer yet available for external use.

Scientists are tantalized by the possibilities. One analyst predicted quantum will be as world altering in the 2020s as the smartphone was in the decade just ended.

The Quantum Computation Center offers about 100 IBM clients, academic institutions and more than 200,000 registered users access to this cutting-edge technology through a collaborative effort called the IBM Q Network and the rapidly growing community around Qiskit, IBMs open-source development platform for quantum computing. Through these efforts, IBM and others are exploring the ways quantum computing can address their most complicated problems, while training a workforce to use this technology.

Facilitating education and developing the next-generation workforce is a big focus for IBM. That includes spurring access to Qiskit and educational tools like the Coding With Qiskit video series that has generated more than 1.5 million impressions and over 10,000 hours of content consumed by users.The company has also released an open source textbook written by experts in the field, including several from IBM Research, as well as professors who have used some of the material in their own university courses.

Q Network partners include ExxonMobil, Daimler, JPMorgan Chase, Anthem, Delta Airlines, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Georgia Tech University, Keio University, Stanford Universitys Q-Farm program and Mitsubishi Chemical among dozens of others.

Last year IBM announced partnerships with the University of Tokyo and the German research company Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which will greatly expand the companys already broad network of quantum researchers globally. The history of computing tells us that creative people around the world will find uses for these systems that no one could have predicted.

Katie Pizzolato

At this stage, its difficult to predict what kind of impact quantum will have on employment or the economy. But the research firm Gartner projects that, by 2023, 20 percent of organizations will be budgeting for QC projects, up from less than 1 percent in 2018.*

How do we get to the quantum future? asks Katie Pizzolato, Director of Applications Research within the IBM Q Network. By building the most advanced quantum systems and a developmental platform and making it available to the world.

How does quantum differ from classical digital computing? Conventional computers use transistors that can only store information in two electrical statesOn or Offwhich binary computer code represents as 1 or 0. These are the binary digits, or bits, of classical computing.

Quantum computing is an altogether different beast. It derives its origins from the field of quantum physics, which emerged in the early 20th century when scientists began studying the behavior of subatomic particles.

What they discovered shocked many of them. Simply put, subatomic particles can exist in two places, or two states, at the same time, defying previously accepted laws of the physical world. The term for this is superposition. Researchers also discovered that particles separated by distances are able to share information instantaneously, faster than the speed of light. This is called entanglement.

If this sounds strange and implausible, thats because it is. Niels Bohr, one of the scientists who pioneered the field of quantum mechanics, quipped that anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory doesn't understand it.

This subatomic reality has profound implications for computing. The binary bits used by conventional computersthose 0s and 1slimit the kind of task classical computers can perform, and the speed at which they can do those tasks.

Qubits are the basis for quantum computers. They transcend this 1 or 0 binary limitation. Unlike bits, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously. This gives them the potential to processexponential amounts ofinformation.

A quantum machine with just a couple of qubits can process only about as much information as a classical 512-bit computer. But because of the exponential nature of the platform, the dynamic changes very quickly. Assuming perfect stability, 300 qubits could represent more data values than there are atoms in the observable universe. This opens the opportunity to solve highly complex problems that are well beyond the reach of any classical computer.

Dario Gil

A beauty of quantum computers is that they will offer a more subtle way of thinking about problems that goes beyond binarythat goes beyond simple 0 or 1, Yes or No, True or False, says Dario Gil, the Director of IBM Research. That doesnt mean there wont be specific answers in the end. But quantum computing will make it possible to confront many of the worlds most complex problems that are beyond the ability of classical binary computing to quickly solve.

What can quantum computing do for us?

Quantum computers will be orders of magnitude more powerful than anything we have today. But what problems will they solve? What are scientists doing with them now?

Its generally agreed that most important quantum applications are years away. But researchers say some promising applications stand out:

Climate change

Quantum computing could lead to a novel yet ambitious plan to reverse the negative impacts of climate change, by helping find efficient ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

To do that, scientists require a better understanding of the carbon atom and how it interacts with other elements. Researchers need to be able to observe and model the way each carbon atoms eight orbiting electrons might interact with the electrons of an almost infinite variety of other molecules, until researchers find the combination that can best bind the carbon.

Batteries to store more electricity for clean-energy uses

One fundamental building block of our clean-energy future will be batteries. Todays batteries lose power too quickly.They also cant hold enough charge to meet increasing demands. And at times, theyre unstable. Todays most-used battery type, lithium-ion, is dependent on cobalt, a metal whose global supplies are dwindling.

Well need better batteries for applications like powering electric vehicles. Utility companies will need them to store solar and wind energy, for example, for use when the sun isnt shining or the wind isnt blowing.

We need to find a fundamentally different chemistry to create the batteries of the future, Pizzolato says. Quantum computing could let us effectively peer inside the batteries chemical reactions, to better understand the materials and reactions that will give the world those better batteries.

New insights into chemistry

Learning more about chemical reactions on the atomic level could also lead to breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals, or materials like energy-efficient fertilizer (currently a massively energy-intensive endeavor, and a major contributor to carbon emissions).

The catalysts that spark these sorts of discoveries are the essence of nearly all progress in chemistry. But because of the infinitely complex ways in which atoms interact with each other, almost all chemistry breakthroughs have come about through accident, intuition or exhausting numbers of experiments. Quantum computing could make this work faster and more methodical, leading to new discoveries in medicine, energy, materials and other fields.

Portfolio management

Its no surprise that that financial institutions are exploring the use of quantum to balance portfolios and pricing options, the instruments used for hedging risk. Because of the complexity of processing a large number of continually changing variables it often takes a full day to come to a correct price.

Quantum promises to make such calculations in a matter of minutes, meaning these derivatives could be bought and sold in near real time. Some banks, like JPMorgan Chase, are already testing quantum computing for this very purpose.

For consumers, whether saving for a home, nurturing a college-savings plan, or building assets for a secure retirement, the peace-of-mind benefits of lower-risk and higher-profit financial products could be significant.

Encryption

Cryptography is a field that has attracted considerable attention in the quantum conversation. So far, much of the discussion has involved the perceived perils of a new class or code breakers. But the counter argumentnew types of more secure data privacy systemscould prove just as compelling.

Either way, true breakthroughs are probably not coming soon.

The most sophisticated data security software now uses complex algorithms to generate passwords that would take classical computers a long time to break. Quantum threatens to completely overturn this paradigm, making current encryption effectively useless. A quantum computer algorithm created a quarter-century ago, called Shors algorithm, could theoretically crack even the most powerful of todays forms of encryption. But Shors algorithm would require fault-tolerant quantum computers that dont yet exist and might still be many years away.

Still, the possibility that current cybersecurity standards could be made obsolete has drawn the attention of governments. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, for example, has a competition to develop new encryption tools resistant to the potential danger.

What Must Happen To Fulfill Quantums Promise?

Despite the flurry of activity and rapidly growing interest in quantum computing, major breakthroughs with real-world applications are probably years away.

One reason is the fickleness of subatomic matter. Qubits are extremely delicate, and even a small disturbance knocks particles out of quantum state. Thats why quantum computers are kept at temperatures slightly above absolute zero, colder than outer space, since matter becomes effectively more stable the colder it gets. Even at that temperature, qubit particles typically remain in superposition for only fractions of a second.

Figuring out how to keep qubits in a prolonged state of superpostition is a major challenge that scientists still need to overcome.

A next major benchmark, Pizzolato says, will be the successful implementation of logical qubits that can maintain a quantum state longer than is now technologically possible. Logical qubits are necessary for fault-tolerancethe true test of quantum computings utility. Like others at IBM, Pizzolato is reluctant to predict a timeline but says the logical qubit is likely to arrive sometime in the next decade.

Another open question is economic: How will the arrival of the Quantum Age impact the number, categories and quality of jobs in the decades to come? Its difficult to say right now how big an industry quantum computing will eventually be. But currently, a major skills gap has left nearly every quantum organization struggling to find qualified recruits.

The National Quantum Initiative, signed into law in early 2019, is meant to provide federal funds to bridge this skills gap. But practical training of the sort made possible by the IBM Q Network will be crucial to a long-term solution.

While the quantum era may develop slowly, its worth remembering that the Internetor an early version of itwas around for decades before it was established as the truly revolutionary force it would become. But like the Internet, the work researchers are doing now on quantum computing lead to a world we cant now imagine.

Only by doing the hard work on quantum computing that we and our partners around the world are doing now, says Pizzolato, can we hope to solve the big global problems that well be facing together in the years ahead.

*Gartner, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019: Quantum Computing, March 2019

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The Quantum Computing Era Is Here. Why It MattersAnd How It May Change Our World. - Forbes

A team of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark let DeepMinds AlphaZero algorithm loose on a few quantum computing optimization problems and, much to everyones surprise, the AI was able to solve the problems without any outside expert knowledge. Not bad for a machine learning paradigm designed to win at games like Chess and StarCraft.

Youve probably heard of DeepMind and its AI systems. The UK-based Google sister-company is responsible for both AlphaZero and AlphaGo, the systems that beat the worlds most skilled humans at the games of Chess and Go. In essence, what both systems do is try to figure out what the optimal next set of moves is. Where humans can only think so many moves ahead, the AI can look a bit further using optimized search and planning methods.

Related:DeepMinds AlphaZero AI is the new champion in chess, shogi, and Go

When the Aarhus team applied AlphaZeros optimization abilities to a trio of problems associated with optimizing quantum functions an open problem for the quantum computing world they learned that its ability to learn new parameters unsupervised transferred over from games to applications quite well.

Per the study:

AlphaZero employs a deep neural network in conjunction with deep lookahead in a guided tree search, which allows for predictive hidden-variable approximation of the quantum parameter landscape. To emphasize transferability, we apply and benchmark the algorithm on three classes of control problems using only a single common set of algorithmic hyperparameters.

The implications for AlphaZeros mastery over the quantum universe could be huge. Controlling a quantum computer requires an AI solution because operations at the quantum level quickly become incalculable by humans. The AI can find optimum paths between data clusters in order to emerge better solutions in tandem with computer processors. It works a lot like human heuristics, just scaled to the nth degree.

An example of this would be an algorithm that helps a quantum computer sort through near-infinite combinations of molecules to come up with chemical compounds that would be useful in the treatment of certain illnesses. The current paradigm would involve developing an algorithm that relies on human expertise and databases with previous findings to point it in the right direction.

But the kind of problems were looking at quantum computers to solve dont always have a good starting point. Some of these, optimization problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem, need an algorithm thats capable of figuring things out without the need for constant adjustment by developers.

DeepMinds algorithm and AI system may be the solution quantum computings been waiting for. The researchers effectively employ AlphaZero as a Tabula Rasa for quantum optimization: It doesnt necessarily need human expertise to find the optimum solution to a problem at the quantum computing level.

Before we start getting too concerned about unsupervised AI accessing quantum computers, its worth mentioning that so far AlphaZeros just solved a few problems in order to prove a concept. We know the algorithms can handle quantum optimization, now its time to figure out what we can do with it.

The researchers have already received interest from big tech and other academic institutions with queries related to collaborating on future research. Not for nothing, but DeepMinds sister-company Google has a little quantum computing program of its own. Were betting this isnt the last weve heard of AlphaZeros adventures in the quantum computing world.

Read next: Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed to September (thank goodness)

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AlphaZero beat humans at Chess and StarCraft, now it's working with quantum computers - The Next Web

TORONTO,Jan. 16, 2020 Xanadu, a Canadian quantum hardware and technology company has received a$4.4 millioninvestment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC). The investment will expedite the development of Xanadus photonic quantum computers and make them available over the cloud. This project will also further the companys overall progress towards the construction of energy-efficient universal quantum computers.

Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs are tackling problems acrossCanadaand in every sector. I have never been more positive about the future. The quantum hardware technology that Xanadu is building will develop quantum computers with the ability to solve extremely challenging computational problems, completing chemical calculations in minutes which would otherwise require a million CPUs in a data center, saidLeah Lawrence, President and CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

Despite efforts to improve the power efficiency of traditional computing methods, the rapid growth of data centres and cloud computing presents a major source of new electricity consumption. In comparison to classical computing, quantum computing systems have the benefit of performing certain tasks and algorithms at an unprecedented rate. This will ultimately reduce the requirements for electrical power and the accompanying air and water emissions associated with electricity production.

Xanadu is developing a unique type of quantum computer, based on photonic technology, which is inherently more power-efficient than electronics. Xanadus photonic approach uses laser light to carry information through optical chips, rather than the electrons or ions used by their competitors. By using photonic technology, Xanadus quantum computers will one day have the ability to perform calculations at room temperature, and eliminate the bulky and power-hungry cooling systems required by most other types of quantum computers.

The project will be undertaken by Xanadus team of in-house scientists, with collaboration from theUniversity of Torontoand Swiftride. The project will be carried out over three years and will encompass the development of Xanadus architecture, hardware, software and client interfaces with the overall goal of expediting the development of the companys technology, and demonstrating the practical benefits of quantum computing for users and customers by the end of 2022.

We are thrilled by the recognition and support that we are receiving from SDTC for the development of our technology. We firmly believe that our unique, photonic-based approach to quantum computing will deliver both valuable insights and tangible environmental benefits for our customers and partners, said Christian Weedbrook, CEO of Xanadu.

About Xanadu

Xanadu is a photonic quantum hardware company. We build integrated photonic chips that can be used in quantum computing, communication and sensing systems. The companys mission is to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere, visit http://www.xanadu.aior follow us on Twitter@XanaduAI.

About SDTC

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is a foundation created by the Government ofCanadato advance clean technology innovation inCanada by funding and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises developing and demonstrating clean technology solutions. Follow Sustainable Development Technology Canada on Twitter: @SDTC

Source: Xanadu

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Xanadu Receives $4.4M Investment to Advance its Photonic Quantum Computing Technology - HPCwire

The Alibaba DAMO Academy, Alibaba Groups global program for tackling ambitious, high-impact technology research, has made some predictions about the trends that will shape the industry in the year ahead. From more-advanced artificial intelligence to large-scale blockchain applications, heres what you can expect in 2020.

1. Artificial Intelligence Gets More Human2020 is set to be a breakthrough year for AI, according to DAMO. Researchers will be taking inspiration from a host of new areas to upgrade the technology, namely cognitive psychology and neuroscience combined with insights into human behavior and history. Theyll also adopt new machine-learning techniques, such as continual learning, which allows machines to remember what theyve learned in order to more quickly learn new things something humans take for granted. With these advances in cognitive intelligence, machines will be able to better understand and make use of knowledge rather than merely perceive and express information.

2. The Next Generation of ComputationComputers these days send information back and forth between the processor and the memory in order to complete tasks. The problem? Computing demands have grown to such an extent in the digital age that our computers cant keep up. Enter processing-in-memory architecture, which integrates the processor and memory into a single chip for faster processing speed. PIM innovations will play a critical role in spurring next-generation AI, DAMO said.

3. Hyper-Connected ManufacturingThe rapid deployment of 5G, Internet of Things and cloud- and edge-computing applications will help manufacturers go digital, including everything from automating equipment, logistics and production scheduling to integrating their factory, IT and communications systems. In turn, DAMO predicts theyll be faster to react to changes in demand and coordinate with suppliers in real time to help productivity and profitability.

WATCH: An Inside Look at Cainiaos Hyperconnected Warehouse

4. Machines Talking to Machines at ScaleMore-advanced IoT and 5G will enable more large-scale deployments of connected devices, which brings with them a range of benefits for governments, companies and consumers. For example, traffic-signal systems could be optimized in real time to keep drivers moving (and happy), while driverless cars could access roadside sensors to better navigate their surroundings. These technologies would also allow warehouse robots to maneuver around obstacles and sort parcels, and fleets of drones to efficiently and securely make last-mile deliveries.

5. Chip Design Gets EasierHave you heard? Moores Law is dying. It is now becoming too expensive to build faster and smaller semiconductors. In its place, chipmakers are now piecing together smaller chiplets into single wafers to handle more-demanding tasks. Think Legos. Another advantage of chiplets is that they often use already-inspected silicon, speeding up time to market. Barriers to entry in chipmaking are dropping, too, as open-source communities provide alternatives to traditional, proprietary design. And as more companies design their own custom chips, they are increasingly contributing to a growing ecosystem of development tools, product information and related software that will enable still easier and faster chip design in the future.

6. Blockchain Moves Toward MainstreamThe nascent blockchain industry is about to see some changes of its own. For one, expect the rise of the blockchain-as-a-service model to make these applications more accessible to businesses. Also, there will be a rise in specialized hardware chips for cloud and edge computing, powered by core algorithms used in blockchain technologies. Scientists at DAMO forecast that the number of new blockchain applications will grow significantly this year, as well, while blockchain-related collaborations across industries will become more common. Lastly, the academy expects large-scale blockchain applications to see wide-scale adoption.

7. A Turning Point for Quantum ComputingRecent advancements in this field have stirred up hopes for making large-scale quantum computers a reality, which will prompt more investments into quantum R&D, according to DAMO. That will result in increased competition and ecosystem growth around quantum technologies, as well as more attempts to commercialize the technology. DAMO predicts that after a difficult but critical period of intensive research in the coming years, quantum information science will deliver breakthroughs such as computers that can correct computation errors in real time.

8. More Revolution in SemiconductorsDemand is surging for computing power and storage, but major chipmakers still havent developed a better solution than 3-nanometer node silicon-based transistors. Experiments in design have led to the discovery of other materials that might boost performance. Topological insulators and two-dimensional superconducting materials, for example, may become connective materials as their properties allow electrical currents to flow without resistance. New magnetic and resistive switching materials might also be used to create next-generation magnetic memory technology, which can run on less power than their predecessors.

9. Data Protection Powered by AIAs businesses face a growing number of data-protection regulations and the rising compliance costs to meet them interest is growing in new solutions that support data security. AI algorithms can do that. They help organizations manage and filter through information, protect user information shared across multiple parties and make regulatory compliance easier, or even automatic. These technologies can help companies promote trust in the reuse and sharing of analytics, as well as overcome problems such as data silos, where certain information is not accessible to an entire organization and causes inefficiencies as a result.

10. Innovation Starts on the CloudCloud computing has evolved far beyond its intended purpose as technological infrastructure to take on a defining role in IT innovation. Today, clouds computing power is the backbone of the digital economy as it transforms the newest, most-advanced innovations into accessible services. From semiconductor chips, databases and blockchain to IoT and quantum computing, nearly all technologies are now tied to cloud computing. It has also given rise to new technologies, such as serverless computing architecture and cloud-powered robotic automation.

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Alibaba's 10 Tech Trends to Watch in... - Alizila

After a decade of vendor consolidation that saw some of the worlds biggest IT firms acquire first-class HPC providers such as SGI, Cray, and Sun Microsystems, as well as smaller players like Penguin Computing, WhamCloud, Appro, and Isilon, it is natural to wonder who is next. Or maybe, more to the point, who is left?

As it turns out, there are still plenty of companies, large and small, that can fill critical holes in the product portfolios of HPC providers, or those who want to be HPC players. These niche acquisitions will be especially important to these same providers as they expand into HPC-adjacent markets such as artificial intelligence, data analytics and edge computing.

One company that can play into all of these markets is FPGA-maker Xilinx. Since Intel acquired Altera in 2015, Xilinx is the only standalone company of any size that makes reconfigurable logic devices. Give that, the natural buyer for Xilinx would be AMD, Intels arch-nemesis. AMD, of course, already has a highly competitive lineup of CPUs and GPUs to challenge its much larger rival, and the addition of an FPGA portfolio would open a third front. It would also provide AMD entry into a whole array of new application markets where FPGAs operate: ASIC prototyping, IoT, embedded aerospace/automotive, 5G communications, AI inference, database acceleration, and computational storage, to name a few.

The only problem is that Xilinxs current market cap of around $25 billion, or about half the current market cap of AMD. And if youre wondering about AMDs piggy bank, the chipmaker has $1.2 billion cash on hand as of September 2019. Which means any deal would probably take the form of a merger rather than a straight acquisition. Theres nothing wrong with that, but a merger is a more complex decision and has greater ramifications for both parties. Thats why the rumors of a Xilinx acquisition have tended to center on larger semiconductor manufacturers that might be looking to diversify their offerings, like Broadcom or Qualcomm. Those acquisitions wouldnt offer the HPC and AI technology synergies that AMD could provide, but they would likely be easier to execute.

Another area that continues to be ripe for acquisitions is the storage market. In HPC, Panasas and DataDirect Networks stand alone well, stand together as the two HPC specialists left in the market. And of those two, the more modest-sized Panasas would be easier to swallow. But most HPC OEMs, including the biggies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, and Lenovo already have their own HPC storage and file system offerings of one sort or another, although Lenovo is probably most deficient in this regard. For what its worth though, Panasas, which has been around since 1999, has never attracted the kind of suitor willing to fold the companys rather specialized parallel file system technologies into its own product portfolio. In all honesty, we dont expect that to change.

The real storage action in the coming years in HPC, as well as in the enterprise and the cloud, is going to be in the software defined space, where companies like WekaIO, VAST Data, Excelero, and DataCore Software have built products that can virtualize all sorts of hardware. Thats because the way storage is being used and deployed in the datacenter these days is being transformed by cheaper capacity (disks) and cheaper IOPS (NVM-Express and other SSD devices), the availability of cloud storage, and the inverse trends of disaggregation and hyperconvergence.

As we noted last July: While there are plenty of NAS and SAN appliances being sold into the enterprise to support legacy applications, modern storage tends to be either disaggregated with compute and storage broken free of each other at the hardware level but glued together on the fly with software to look local or hyperconverged with the compute and block storage virtualized and running on the same physical server clusters and atop the same server virtualization hypervisors.

Any of the aforementioned SDS companies, along with others, may find themselves courted by OEMs and storage-makers, and even cloud providers. DDN has been busy in that regard, having acquired software-defined storage maker Nexenta in May 2019. We expect to see more of such deals in the coming years. Besides DDN, other storage companies like NetApp should be looking hard at bringing more SDS in-house. The big cloud providers Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and so on will also be making some big investments in SDS technologies, even if theyre not buying such companies outright.

One market that is nowhere near the consolidation stage is quantum computing. However, that doesnt mean companies wont be looking to acquire some promising startups in this area, even at this early stage. While major tech firms such as IBM, Google, Intel, Fujitsu, Microsoft, and Baidu have already invested a lot on in-house development and are busy selecting technology partners, other companies have taken a more wait-and-see approach.

In the latter category, one that particularly stands out is HPE. In this case, the company is more focused on near-term R&D, like memristors or other memory-centric technologies. While there may be some logic in letting other companies spend their money figuring out the most promising approaches for quantum computing, and then swoop in and copy (or buy) whatever technology is most viable, there is also the risk of being left behind. Thats something HPE cannot afford.

That said, HPE has recently invested in IonQ, a promising quantum computing startup that has built workable prototype using ion trap technology. The investment was provided via Pathfinder, HPEs investment arm. In an internal blog post on the subject penned by Abhishek Shukla, managing director of global venture investments, and Ray Beausoleil, Senior Fellow of large scale integrated photonics, the authors extol the virtues of IonQs technical approach:

IonQs technology has already surpassed all other quantum computers now available, demonstrating the largest number of usable qubits in the market. Its gate fidelity, which measures the accuracy of logical operations, is greater than 98 percent for both one-qubit and two-qubit operations, meaning it can handle longer calculations than other commercial quantum computers. We believe IonQs qubits and methodology are of such high quality, they will be able to scale to 100 qubits (and 10,000 gate operations) without needing any error correction.

As far as we can tell, HPE has no plans to acquire the company (and it shares investment in the startup with other companies, including Amazon, Google, and Samsung, among others). But if HPE is truly convinced IonQ is the path forward, it would make sense to pull the acquisition trigger sooner rather than later.

We have no illusions that any of this comes to pass in 2020 or ever. As logical as the deals we have suggested seem to us, the world of acquisitions and mergers is a lot more mysterious and counterintuitive than wed like to admit (cases in point: Intel buying Whamcloud or essentially buying Cloudera through such heavy investment). More certain is the fact that these deals will continue to reshape the HPC vendor landscape in the coming decade as companies go after new markets and consolidate their hold on old ones. If anything, the number of businesses bought and sold will increase as high performance computing, driven by AI and analytics, will extend into more application domains. Or as the Greeks put it more succinctly, the only constant is change.

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HPC In 2020: Acquisitions And Mergers As The New Normal - The Next Platform