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Category Archives: Quantum Computing
How Kronos Could Help the US Win the Fusion and Quantum Computing Race With China – Newswire
Posted: March 29, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Press Release-Mar 28, 2022 07:00 CST
WASHINGTON, March 28, 2022 (Newswire.com) - Major world governments are increasingly focusing on fusion energy research as a potential foundation for gaining the economic and military advantage in the twenty-first century, and perhaps beyond. In this emerging arena of supercharged competition, the quantum computing systems, algorithms, and tokamak design plans developed by Kronos Fusion Energy Defense Systems could be a key factor in winning a significant edge for the USA over its economic and political rival, China.
Fusion energy, known theoretically since 1920, promises potentially near-limitless energy generation, free from polluting or radioactive byproducts. With rising petroleum costs and the looming specter of global warming, developing workable fusion technology is more urgent than ever. The first country to make breakthroughs to practical fusion will become the world's energy leader, giving its decisive advantage in commerce, defense, and space exploration that could last for generations.
With immense government backing and funding, most recently reinforced in China's 14th Five-Year Plan, Chinese scientists seemingly lead the world with the $900 million Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The EAST recently set records by maintaining stable plasma at 120 million degrees for more than 1.5 minutes. China budgeted hundreds of millions more to operate and upgrade the EAST reactor, while funding the training of over 1,000 new fusion physicists.
China's vigorous fusion program is committed to developing its quantum computing resources. Centered on the recently founded Chinese National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences, the program has received billions of dollars in funding. China currently holds 2.5 times more patents in deep learning than America, as well as a cornerstone of advanced quantum computing, while aggressively pursuing further developments. Chinese premier Xi Jinping even describes these technological sectors as the "main battleground" between the USA and China.
Currently, the edge in these economically and strategically vital technologies arguably belong to the PRC. However, Kronos offers the potential to redress this balance by bringing together quantum computing and fusion energy into a single powerful project. Harnessing the ability of quantum devices, neural networks, and machine learning to crunch immense quantities of data, while testing a multidimensional array of thousands of problems, learning and adapting in real-time, the potent simulations Kronos has developed should enable building fusion tokamaks 4,000% more effective than current reactors.
Kronos believes the lightning-fast development and analysis cycle provided by its algorithms will empower the U.S. to leapfrog twenty years ahead of China in fusion energy generation. Its quantum computing systems will not only enable developing precise, efficient fusion reactor designs, compact fusion engines for spacecraft, and other fusion technology, but demonstrate the viability of quantum learning as a breakthrough tool of economic and scientific success. Kronos' cutting-edge "proof-of-concept" will potentially attract robust public and private investment to the wider quantum research sector, putting the USA on course to achieve superiority not only in tokamak design but also in quantum computing research.
PR Contact: Erin Pendleton - pr@kronosfusionenergy.com
Source: Kronos Fusion Energy
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IonQ Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results – Quantum Computing Report
Posted: at 1:43 pm
IonQ Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results
IonQ announced its fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results with significant increases from earlier periods and also significant increases from their own earlier forecasts. Fourth quarter 2021 revenue was $1.6 million compared to a third quarter revenue of $234 thousand with full year revenue at $2.1 million. IonQ also reported contracts bookings in 2021 at $16.7 million compared with the previous 2021 estimate of $15 million they made in November. Ionqs EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) loss was $28.3 million with a total net loss of $106.2 million. The net loss was dominated by a Change in Fair value of Warrant Liabilities of $63.3 million and Offering Costs Associated with Warrants of $4.3 million. These are non-cash expenses and are expected to be non-recurring. R&D expenditures in 2021 roughly doubled in 2021 at $20.2 million from the previous amount of $10.2 million in 2020.
The company forecasts significant growth in 2022 with revenues between $10.2 million and $10.7 million, and EBITDA loss of around $55 million, and contract bookings between $20 and $24 million. The contract books can extend over several years, which explains why they would be higher than the revenues, particularly in a growing business. The company also warned that the revenue and earnings could be lumpy due to large individual bookings or shipments. This is not uncommon, and we have seen this before in results from classical computing companies that ship expensive supercomputers.
The company highlighted several of their commercial and technical achievements in 2021, most of which we have previously reported on in the Quantum Computing Report. However, there were a few new items that we thought were noteworthy. First, they indicated they are discussing with potential customers the sales of full systems for on-premise installations. This would provide them with additional revenues beyond selling time over the cloud on one of their machines. Although closing of any of these deals is not assured, if it did happen it would augment revenue starting in 2023. IonQ also indicated they are setting up a manufacturing group to allow them to build up machines in higher volume. And finally, they announced they are setting up a team in Seattle, Washington to increase their technical capabilities and take advantage of talent that is available in the Pacific Northwest. Among other activities, this group will be researching the use of photonics to connect multiple ion trap processors together.
You can view IonQs press release announcing their financial results and business update here. And you can find the 10-K Report they have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission here.
March 28, 2022
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Think big, start small, scale fast to enter the metaverse – Mint
Posted: at 1:43 pm
Three years ago, when you spoke about the world being on the cusp of a major business transformation with AI, you had pointed out that that many companies were experiencing AI stagnation due to the lack of right data, lack of right talent, and the wrong mindset, among other things. To what extent has the scenario improved now?
We saw Covid being an accelerator of tech adoption. According to our research, before Covid, digital leaders who were adopting new technologies like Cloud AI faster outpaced others by a factor of 2x. When we did that same research after Covid, we found that these digital leaders who comprise the top 10%, had widened the gap to 5x. We saw another category of LeapFrog(gers)--another 15% of companies that were rapidly innovating to adapt new technologies like AI. Roughly 63% of companies started adopting AI for the first time during Covid, which drove a lot of innovation. That said, there's another round of research that I'm going to publish shortly, specifically on the adoption rate of AI. What that will show is that only about 10% of organizations are really adopting AI at scale. It's a relatively small number and the rest are doing pilot deployments. So, there's still a lot of room to cover.
Is the trend in India any different from other parts of the world?
The work we're doing in India supports what I just said, which means there is a lot of acceleration and a lot more of AI happening now.
What's Accenture's vision of the metaverse, which you have christened as the Metaverse Continuum in your Tech Vision 2022 report?
There are all sorts of definitions of the metaverse, and some of them are crazy--about alternative worlds and realities and things. A lot of these definitions are very consumer focused. What we're doing with the metaverse continuum is talking about a definition that's very grounded in business. We do believe the metaverse will impact every part of every business, and companies need to start acting now. We should talk what's happening with the future of the internet, which you referred to as Web3, which is enabling this new capability and looking to create worlds that bridge the virtual and real. That's where NFTs (non-fungible tokens) come in place. That's where the VR/AR (virtual reality and augmented reality) come in and (enhance) experiences. And it's here that the continuum becomes important. We say Metaverse Continuum because we believe it's not just about the consumer--it's about the worker, and it's about extensive continuum of the roles we play as people across the enterprise. It's a continuum from not just the virtual, but also the real.
As an example, we will work with a client or a worker who uses a digital twin (replica of a physical asset) to understand the workings of a manufacturing plant. They can put on their Augmented Reality (AR) headsets and play around with the equipment to change the way they need. Then they can go back to the real world. The bridging of the real and virtual is a key definition since most think just virtual when they define the metaverse.
The technology will get better. But not all eight billion people in the world can afford this. We need it to be inclusive. So, our ability to create 2D experiences that allow access to some of these 3D worlds is critical. Hence, the continuum of 2d to 3d is important. The good news is that the technology is moving in that direction.
We've been talking about the way you use artificial intelligence to create the experiences in the metaverse to do digital twins to create digital humans like we're doing for museums when we create intelligent guides. A lot of people think the metaverse is just about gaming and headsets, and I think that's going to mislead people into missing the opportunity. I caution companies that you might have missed Web1 like when Amazon disrupted e-commerce, or Web2 when Airbnb disrupted lodging or Uber disrupted transportation, or Facebook, social. But now's your opportunity to define the rules. If you don't, you're going to wake up in worlds (metaverse and Web3) that are defined by someone, and for someone else. That's not going to be a good place to be.
But people and businesses talk about the metaverse and Web3 in the same breath, giving the impression that these are interchangeable terms. What does Accenture think?
Sometimes Web3 is used in almost a political context by some in the crypto community. I'm not using Web3 in that sense. Web3 is the new set of capabilities that are enabling in, one sense, the Internet of place--shared virtual spaces to collaborate, and the internet of ownership--the ability to use blockchain and other technologies to invert the way that ownership works and create unique, differentiated protected digital identities for objects and products that people use.
In your Tech Vision 2022 report, you speak about the four building blocks of the the metaverse continuum -- WebMe, Programme World, The Unreal, and Computing the Impossible. Can you please explain these in brief?
The first one, WebMe, is where we explore how the internet is being reimagined. It's really about the metaverse and future the internet--Web3. The second trend called Programmable World talks about our world being personalized. This one does fold into our metaverse continuum definition. It projects how the convergence of the internet of things (IoT), sensors, digital twins, 5G, ambient computing, augmented reality, smart materials, and more are paving the way for businesses to reshape how they interact with the physical world. You can program smart materials with haptic sensing, for instance, so that a worker can sense if s/he gets close something hot and know not to touch it. This enhances the experience. During Covid, they programmed a messenger RNA to create a vaccine. And it was done by a drug discovery studio that was powered by convolutional neural networks, artificial intelligence, and the cloud. So, it's this fusion of science and the world to allow us to program the world--in this case, a, a vaccine in a very different way.
The third trend--The Unreal--is one of my favorite trends because it's talking about making synthetic objects, and the new issues we have to deal with. Here's just one small example of tremendous innovations coming from a biotech world of synthetic biology, which is allowing us to grow the equivalent of plastics right now. But there's also a dark side to this trend, which is about deepfakes. The other associated with the Unreal trend is synthetic data. We're talking about this tremendous amount of Unreal data you're managing--data about your digital twin of your manufacturing plant, your aircraft, or whatever. Most of the data that you use to train AI as you go forward is going to be synthetic data. One of the analyst firms just did a report saying that by 2030, 80% of the data managed by companies will be synthetic data, not real data because of these trends. The ability to match the unreal in a responsible manner becomes very important because the data itself is generated by AI and is not real data.
The fourth trend is about what happens in the post-Silicon era. We're talking about quantum computing and bio computing--new forms of computing. Quantum computing is getting interesting, and you need to pay attention to it. The US government just passed an executive order mandating every federal agency to be quantum ready with quantum safe encryption. Quantum cryptography is something that companies need to start paying attention to because it's just a matter of time before quantum computers can break RSA-based encryption. Once that happens, it creates a Y2K like moment for everybody to upgrade the cryptography and the security systems they have. This is not the buzzword right now, but it may become so in two to five years. That's why we call this trend Computing the Impossible.
Coming back to the metaverse, companies will also require an AI-type of architecture. What will the elements of this architecture comprise?
We have a reference architecture for the metaverse. There are a couple principles underlying it. One is we believe in an open metaverse and interoperability as a key tenant of it. We are also putting a lot of effort and time into what we call 'Responsible Metaverse', which has two big focus areas--trust and sustainability. On the trust side, we've done a lot of work. The risks, and the need to focus on responsibility, are higher in the metaverse (than in AI) because of the high level of concern. There are concerns around deepfakes, inclusion, and equal opportunity in the metaverse. We believe in pursuing a multi-stakeholder approach (like we did with AI) to work with other companies and organizations. It's a trusted metaverse that gets to handle data and privacy in the right way. Sustainability, too, is a big issue with the metaverse because 3d experiences and the multiple devices consume a lot of energy and resources. If you look at NFTs and cryptocurrencies, they use proof of work mining systems that consume too much energy.
Given all these complexities, what should be the approach of enterprises that are seeking to adopt Web3 and having a presence in the metaverse?
I think the challenge for every company is that every new technology adds on but doesn't eliminate something from the past. With the metaverse, you need to think big because you need to embed, envision the possibilities. But then, start small in a focused way to understand how to apply it. Companies must build an architecture that can scale fast because you will need to move your business fast. So, think big, start small, scale fast is the approach I would recommend from a company perspective.
We made a big entry into our own enterprise metaverse called the Nth Floor. It refers to the virtual environments we have created to bring Accenture people together to meet, collaborate and learn. So, 150,000 of our employees will be onboarded with a virtual reality headset over the next year. (Accenture has created digital twins of many of its physical offices--from Bangalore in India to Madrid in Spain and San Francisco in the US to provide familiar environments for its people to meet, collaborate and network.)
The results we're getting are tremendous. We did this not just to put a toy in people's hands, but we studied the neuroscience around learning and engagement which shows how there's 20-30% improved retention of concepts in an immersive environment. We're seeing that in practice as we apply it and measure it ourselves. People are engaging in new ways. They're sharing experiences that they wouldn't have before.
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March: Robust-and-Reliable-Quantum-Computing | News and features – University of Bristol
Posted: March 23, 2022 at 6:33 pm
A new programme called RoaRQ and funded by a 3m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, will establish a vibrant and cross-disciplinary community of researchers in universities - including University of Bristol - in quantum computing and computer science.
The team will collaborate to address the global challenge of delivering quantum computing that is robust, reliable, and trustworthy. With substantial recent progress internationally in building ever larger quantum computers, verifying that they do indeed perform the tasks they were designed for has become a central unsolved problem in the field.
From complex software articulated in high-level languages down to the silicon chips made in foundries, 60 years of computer science and engineering has defined and refined a tower of abstractions that constitute the solid foundations of todays classical computer systems. Challenges to reliability and correctness have been facedand overcomeat many levels in the stack, and there is a wealth of insight and expertise in the diverse community of computer science researchers who work across it. Verification and testing are done at each level, with clearly defined protocols and acceptance criteria. Decades of classical computing systems research has worked out the architectures, languages and translations that bring it all together to make reliable digital systems.
Achieving reliable quantum computation faces unique challengesnot least the fragility of quantum systems due to their interactions with their environment and the fact that the state of the system during a computation cannot be measured to confirm its correctness. The very feature that makes quantum computation powerful, the exponential size of the space of states in the number of qubits, makes it hard to emulate and hence assess behaviour.
This programme will bring quantum computation research into close contact with the scientific tools, methods and (especially) mindsets of the computer science research communityacross a broad spread of the key classical computing stacks. Together, they will define the beginnings of a general framework and advance specific solutions for robust and reliable quantum computation, at key layers across the principal quantum computing stacks needed to achieve trustworthy quantum computing systems.
Over the first year, the programme directors will invite engagement from across the UKs scientific community to co-create a portfolio of funded, cross-disciplinary projects that address this ambitious goal. A series of scoping workshops will be convened to propose and discuss technical directions and to facilitate the formation of project investigator teams. Projects selected for funding will commence from April 2023.
Prof Noah Linden of Bristols School of Mathematics: "At its most ambitious, our programmewith its focus on reliability and robustnesscould lead to a completely new view of the quantum computing stack, with implications for hardware and software at every level."
Simon Benjamin, Professor of Quantum Technologies at University of Oxford, said: Its an incredibly exciting time for quantum computing, when we need people to come together from diverse backgrounds so that these machines achieve their potential as enabling tools for everyonenot just people with doctorates in quantum physics! This project is an important step in making that happen.
Tom Melham, Professor of Computer Science at University of Oxford said: This innovative programme, funded by the EPSRC, will create an entirely new scientific community in the UK aimed at making trustworthy quantum computing a reality. Our ambition is to seed innovation in the design of reliable quantum computing systems as far reaching as the revolution in VLSI chip design of the late 1970s and 80s.
Dan Browne, Professor of Physics at University College London said: Im excited to be taking part in such an innovative research programme. Quantum computing can learn a huge amount from the know how in the established computer science community. I am looking forward to sharing ideas with this community and building new collaborations.
Paul Kelly, Professor of Software Technology at Imperial College London said: This is an unusual and exciting opportunity to reach out to, establish, expand and seed the network of UK computer systems and software researchers to exploit the capabilities of quantum computingand to bridge the gap to deliver quantum-accelerated applications to realise new computational capability across diverse application domains.
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Quantum computing: Definition, facts & uses – Livescience.com
Posted: March 18, 2022 at 7:41 pm
Quantum computing is a new generation of technology that involves a type of computer 158 million times faster than the most sophisticated supercomputer we have in the world today. It is a device so powerful that it could do in four minutes what it would take a traditional supercomputer 10,000 years to accomplish.
For decades, our computers have all been built around the same design. Whether it is the huge machines at NASA, or your laptop at home, they are all essentially just glorified calculators, but crucially they can only do one thing at a time.
The key to the way all computers work is that they process and store information made of binary digits called bits. These bits only have two possible values, a one or a zero. It is these numbers that create binary code, which a computer needs to read in order to carry out a specific task, according to the book Fundamentals of Computers.
Quantum theory is a branch of physics which deals in the tiny world of atoms and the smaller (subatomic) particles inside them, according to the journal Documenta Mathematica. When you delve into this minuscule world, the laws of physics are very different to what we see around us. For instance, quantum particles can exist in multiple states at the same time. This is known as superposition.
Instead of bits, quantum computers use something called quantum bits, 'qubits' for short. While a traditional bit can only be a one or a zero, a qubit can be a one, a zero or it can be both at the same time, according to a paper published from IEEE International Conference on Big Data.
This means that a quantum computer does not have to wait for one process to end before it can begin another, it can do them at the same time.
Imagine you had lots of doors which were all locked except for one, and you needed to find out which one was open. A traditional computer would keep trying each door, one after the other, until it found the one which was unlocked. It might take five minutes, it might take a million years, depending on how many doors there were. But a quantum computer could try all the doors at once. This is what makes them so much faster.
As well as superposition, quantum particles also exhibit another strange behaviour called entanglement which also makes this tech so potentially ground-breaking. When two quantum particles are entangled, they form a connection to each other no matter how far apart they are. When you alter one, the other responds the same way even if they're thousands of miles apart. Einstein called this particle property "spooky action at a distance", according to the journal Nature.
As well as speed, another advantage quantum computers have over traditional computers is size. According to Moore's Law, computing power doubles roughly every two years, according to the journal IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. But in order to enable this, engineers have to fit more and more transistors onto a circuit board. A transistor is like a microscopic light switch which can be either off or on. This is how a computer processes a zero or a one that you find in binary code.
To solve more complex problems, you need more of those transistors. But no matter how small you make them there's only so many you can fit onto a circuit board. So what does that mean? It means sooner or later, traditional computers are going to be as smart as we can possibly make them, according to the Young Scientists Journal. That is where quantum machines can change things.
The quest to build quantum computers has turned into something of a global race, with some of the biggest companies and indeed governments on the planet vying to push the technology ever further, prompting a rise in interest in quantum computing stocks on the money markets.
One example is the device created by D-Wave. It has built the Advantage system which it says is the first and only quantum computer designed for business use, according to a press release from the company.
D-wave said it has been designed with a new processor architecture with over 5,000 qubits and 15-way qubit connectivity, which it said enables companies to solve their largest and most complex business problems.
The firm claims the machine is the first and only quantum computer that enables customers to develop and run real-world, in-production quantum applications at scale in the cloud. The firm said the Advantage is 30 times faster and delivers equal or better solutions 94% of the time compared to its previous generation system.
But despite the huge, theoretical computational power of quantum computers, there is no need to consign your old laptop to the wheelie bin just yet. Conventional computers will still have a role to play in any new era, and are far more suited to everyday tasks such as spreadsheets, emailing and word processing, according to Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI).
Where quantum computing could really bring about radical change though is in predictive analytics. Because a quantum computer can make analyses and predictions at breakneck speeds, it would be able to predict weather patterns and perform traffic modelling, things where there are millions if not billions of variables that are constantly changing.
Standard computers can do what they are told well enough if they are fed the right computer programme by a human. But when it comes to predicting things, they are not so smart. This is why the weather forecast is not always accurate. There are too many variables, too many things changing too quickly for any conventional computer to keep up.
Because of their limitations, there are some computations which an ordinary computer may never be able to solve, or it might take literally a billion years. Not much good if you need a quick prediction or piece of analysis.
But a quantum computer is so fast, almost infinitely so, that it could respond to changing information quickly and examine a limitless number of outcomes and permutations simultaneously, according to research by Rigetti Computing.
Quantum computers are also relatively small because they do not rely on transistors like traditional machines. They also consume comparatively less power, meaning they could in theory be better for the environment.
You can read about how to get started in quantum computing in this article by Nature. To learn more about the future of quantum computing, you can watch this TED Talk by PhD student Jason Ball.
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Why banks and NATO are worrying about a future Quantum attack – The Indian Express
Posted: at 7:41 pm
Investment and new milestones in quantum computing are bringing the prospect of an ultra-powerful computer that can crack any code closer to reality. Alphabet Incs Google and International Business Machines Corp. are racing to increase the number of qubits the quantum equivalent of bits that encode data on classical computers on a quantum chip. Firms like Canadas D-Wave Systems Inc. and French startup Alice&Bob are offering quantum computing services to clients that want broad processing power to solve complex problems.
But any technological advance comes with concerns. While a fully-fledged quantum computer doesnt appear to exist yet, there is already worry about its ability to crack encryption underpinning critical communications between companies and between armed forces.
Andersen Cheng, founder and chief executive officer of London quantum-encryption firm Post Quantum, joined me on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday to talk about why NATO, banks and other entities need to prepare for a world where quantum attacks are possible. Here is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Parmy Olson: How significant is the prospect of quantum computers usurping the machines we use today?
Andersen Cheng: Its going to impact every single one of us. I trained as a computer auditor over 30 years ago so I have seen enough in cybersecurity, and the biggest existential threat we are facing now is a quantum attack. Remember a few months ago when Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram went dark for a few hours? Imagine if they went dark and never came back up? Or what if we couldnt buy our stuff on Amazon? That is the thing we have to worry about in terms of what a quantum machine can do.
One thing that is now emerging is the possibility of a quantum machine that can also crack encryption. When a quantum machine comes in, itll be like an x-ray machine. A hacker no longer needs to steal my wallet. All they have to do is to go to the lock on your front door and take an X-ray image of it. They then know what the key looks like and can replicate it.
PO: Machines today cant crack the encryption underpinning networks like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Signal. Can the quantum-computing services provided by IBM or D-Wave already do that?
AC: No. We cannot tell at this point if someone has already got the first functioning quantum machine somewhere. All the computers were using today are what we call classical computers. A quantum machine cannot do very complicated computation, but it can do millions of tries in one go. A quantum machine is useless in doing 99% of the work that we see today, but its extremely fast in doing many very simple tries simultaneously.
The opinion has been that this machine is 10 to 20 years away. But in the intelligence world, people are now worried it will be within five years. Theres been more urgency in the last two and a half years. This is why you see a lot more initiatives going on now in terms of claiming quantum supremacy. Nation states have put billions of dollars into building a quantum machine. There have been several lab-based breakthroughs in the past few years, which have got people worried.
PO: Lets say somebody gets hold of a quantum computer that can break encryption. What could they do?
AC: One option is a harvest-now-and-decrypt-later attack. Right now Im using my iPhone, using a public key that is encrypted. If someone is trying to intercept and store our information, they are just harvesting it. They cannot decrypt it today. But one day they could open up all the secrets [with a quantum computer].
PO: NATO has started experimenting with your virtual private network which has quantum encryption embedded into it. Why are they trialing this?
AC: The current algorithms we use inside a VPN (a tool used to securely tunnel into a corporate network or through a national firewall) either use a standard from RSA Laboratories or elliptic-curve cryptography. Neither are quantum safe.
PO: Meaning they could be cracked by a quantum computer?
AC: Correct. If you start collecting my data, one day with a quantum machine you could actually crack [the passwords protecting it]. That is the worry from a lot of organizations. NATO has got 30 members states so interoperability is important. If you send allied troops into Ukraine, they have to talk to each other. Since different armies use different communication protocols, you have to think about the harvest-now-decrypt-later risk. So this is why they are at forefront of looking for a quantum-safe solution.
PO: What else is at risk from a quantum attack?
AC: Bitcoin and the blockchain. I would say 99% of all cryptocurrencies are using elliptic-curve cryptography, which is not quantum safe. Whoevers got the first working machine will be able to recover hundreds of billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
PO: Which countries are on the forefront of using quantum encryption?
AC: Canada (where quantum computing firm D-Wave Systems is based) is at the forefront of quantum innovation. Then Australia, the Netherlands, France, the U.K. and then you have the U.S. In 2017, Donald Trump made an executive order for a $1.2 billion quantum computing initiative. Thats actually nothing compared to other nation states. China has openly committed between $12 billion and $15 billion to quantum supremacy. France has committed 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) to quantum.
PO: What about the commercial sector?
AC: The American commercial sector has been very innovative with quantum computing, including Google, IBM, Honeywell International Inc.
I cannot name names but some of the largest banks are all quietly building up what we call the PQC teams, or the post-quantum crypto teams, to prepare for the migration. Some of them do see it as an existential threat and they also see it as a marketing advantage to tell customers they are quantum-safe. I know one of the largest systems integrators in the world has committed $200 million to build out a quantum consulting division. They see this as like Y2K happening every month in the next 10 years.
PO: Y2K refers to when everybody thought the worlds computers would blow up when the date changed on Jan. 1, 2000.
AC: It was a once-in-a-lifetime event which did not happen. I was working for JP Morgan Chase & Co. at the time on the Y2K migration committee. Three days after Jan. 1, Sandy Warner, then-CEO, sent an email to every employee saying, Wow, we only spent $286 million on Y2K and nothing happened, so we are very pleased.
PO: How much of the worries over quantum are being overblown by consultants keen to earn fees to set up these new systems? Bearing in mind youre in this market too.
AC: The consultants are thinking Christmas has come early. Everyones been procrastinating until NIST (Maryland-based National Institute of Standards and Technology) updated its standards to include quantum cryptography. I believe the first wave of huge revenues will go to consulting firms, and then the next wave will come down to vendors like us.
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The Explosive Quantum Computing Stock That Could Save the World – InvestorPlace
Posted: at 7:41 pm
Im a history junkie. So, in this special Sunday issue of Hypergrowth Investing, let me start by sharing an interesting story from history that I bet a lot of you have never heard before but which, interestingly enough, could be the key to enabling you to make money in this tough market.
Back in October of 1927, the worlds leading scientists descended upon Brussels for the fifth Solvay Conference an exclusive, invite-only conference dedicated to discussing and solving the outstanding preeminent open problems in physics and chemistry.
In attendance were scientists that, today, we praise as the brightest minds in the history of humankind.
Albert Einstein was there so was Erwin Schrodinger, who devised the famous Schrodingers cat experiment and Werner Heisenberg, the man behind the world-changing Heisenberg uncertainty principle and Louis de Broglie. Max Born. Neils Bohr. Max Planck.
The list goes on and on. Of the 29 scientists who met in Brussels in October 1927, 17 of them went on to win a Nobel Prize.
These are the minds that collectively created the scientific foundation upon which the modern world is built.
And yet, when they all descended upon Brussels nearly 94 years ago, they got stumped by one concept one concept that for nearly a century has remained the elusive key to unlocking the full potential of humankind.
And now, for the first time ever, that concept which stumped even Einstein is turning into a disruptive reality, via a breakthrough technology that will change the world as we know it, and potentially even save it from a global war.
So what exactly were Einstein, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, and the rest of those Nobel Laureates talking about in Brussels back in 1927?
Quantum mechanics.
Now, to be clear, quantum mechanics is a big, complex topic that would require 500 pages to fully understand, but heres my best job at making a Cliffs Notes version in 500 words instead
For centuries, scientists have developed, tested, and validated the laws of the physical world which are known as classical mechanics. These laws scientifically explain how things work. Why they work. Where they come from. So on and so forth.
But the discovery of the electron in 1897 by J.J. Thomson unveiled a new, subatomic world of super-small things that didnt obey the laws of classical mechanics at all. Instead, they obeyed their own set of rules, which have since become known as quantum mechanics.
The rules of quantum mechanics differ from the rules of classical mechanics in two very-weird, almost-magical ways.
First, in classical mechanics, objects are in one place, at one time. You are either at the store, or at home.
But, in quantum mechanics, subatomic particles can theoretically exist in multiple places at once before they are observed. A single subatomic particle can exist in point A and point B at the same time, until we observe it, at which point it only exists at either point A or point B.
So, the true location of a subatomic particle is some combination of all its possible locations.
This is called quantum superposition.
Second, in classical mechanics, objects can only work with things that are also real. You cant use your imaginary friend to help move the couch. You need your real friend to help you.
But, in quantum mechanics, all of those probabilistic states of subatomic particles are not independent. Theyre entangled. That is, if we know something about the probabilistic positioning of one subatomic particle, then we know something about the probabilistic positioning of another subatomic particle meaning that these already super-complex particles can actually work together to create a super-complex ecosystem.
This is called quantum entanglement.
So, in short, subatomic particles can theoretically have multiple probabilistic states at once, and all those probabilistic states can work together again, all at once to accomplish some task.
And that, in a nutshell, is the scientific breakthrough that stumped Einstein back in the early 1900s.
It goes against everything classical mechanics had taught us about the world. It goes against common sense. But its true. Its real. And, now, for the first time ever, we are leaning how to harness this unique phenomenon to change everything about everything
Mark my words. Everything will change over the next few years because of quantum mechanics and some investors are going to make a lot of money.
The study of quantum theory has made huge advancements over the past century, especially so over the past decade, wherein scientists at leading technology companies have started to figure out how to harness the magical powers of quantum mechanics to make a new generation of super quantum computers that are infinitely faster and more powerful than even todays fastest supercomputers.
Again, the physics behind quantum computers is highly complex, but heres my Cliffs Notes version
Todays computers are built on top of the laws of classical mechanics. That is, they store information on what are called bits which can store data binarily as either 1 or 0.
But what if you could harness the power of quantum mechanics to turn those classical bits into quantum bits or qubits that can leverage superpositioning to be both 1 and 0 data stores at the same time?
Even further, what if you could take those quantum bits and leverage entanglement to get all of the multi-state bits to work together to solve computationally taxing problems?
You would theoretically create a machine with so much computational power that it would make even todays most advanced supercomputers look like they are from the Stone Age.
Thats exactly what is happening today.
Google has built a quantum computer that is about 158 million times faster than the worlds fastest supercomputer.
Thats not hyperbole. Thats a real number.
Imagine the possibilities if we could broadly create a new set of quantum computers 158 million times faster than even todays fastest computers
Wed finally have the level of AI that you see in movies. Thats because the biggest limitation to AI today is the robustness of machine learning algorithms, which are constrained by supercomputing capacity. Expand that capacity, and you get infinitely improved machine learning algos, and infinitely smarter AI.
We could eradicate disease. We already have tools like gene editing, but the effectiveness of gene editing relies of the robustness of the underlying computing capacity to identify, target, insert, cut, and repair genes. Insert quantum computing capacity, and all that happens without an error in seconds allowing for us to truly fix anything about anyone.
We could finally have that million-mile EV. We can only improve batteries if we can test them, and we can only test them in the real-world so much. Therefore, the key to unlocking a million-mile battery is through cellular simulation, and the quickness and effectiveness of cellular simulation rests upon the robustness of the underlying computing capacity. Make that capacity 158 million times bigger, and cellular simulation will happen 158 million times faster.
The economic opportunities here are truly endless.
But so are the risks
Did you know that most of todays cybersecurity systems are built on top of maths-based cryptography? That is, they protect data through encryption that can only be cracked through solving a super-complex math problem. Today, that works, because classical computers cannot solve those super-complex math problems very quickly.
But quantum computers that are 158 million times faster than todays classical computers will be able to solve those math problems in the blink of an eye. Therefore, quantum computers threaten to obsolete maths-based cryptography as we know it, and will compromise the bulk of the worlds modern cybersecurity systems.
Insiders call this the Quantum Threat. Its a huge deal. When the Quantum Threat arrives, no digital data will be safe.
Back in 2019, computer scientists believed the Quantum Threat to be a distant threat something that may happen by 2035. However, since then, rapid advancements in quantum computing capability have considerably moved up that timeline. Today, many experts believe the Quantum Threat will arrive in the 2025 to 2030 window.
That means the world needs to start investing in quantum-proof encryption today and thats why, from an investment perspective, we believe quantum encryption stocks will be among the markets biggest winners in the 2020s.
The global information security market is tracking towards $300 BILLION. That entire market will have to inevitably shift towards quantum encryption by 2030. Therefore, were talking the creation of a $300 billion market to save the planet from a security meltdown.
And, at the epicenter of this multi-hundred-billion-dollar, planet-saving megatrend, is one tiny startup that is pioneering the single most robust quantum encryption technology platform that world has ever seen
This company is working with the U.S. government, the UK government, and various other defense and intelligence agencies to finalize its breakthrough technology platform. The firm plans to launch the quantum encryption system, globally, in 2023.
If the tech works at scale, this tiny stock which is trading for less than $20 will roar higher by more than 10X by 2025.
And guess what? We just bought this stock in our flagship investment research product, Innovation Investor.
Trust me. This is a stock pick you are not going to want to miss it may be the single most promising investment opportunity Ive come across over the past few years.
And, with a war raging on in Europe for the first time since World War II, the economic and political importance of this stock has never been bigger.
To gain access to that stock pick and a full portfolio of other potential 10X tech stock picks for the 2020s click here.
On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article
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Schrdingers cat and the worry of a quantum apocalypse ahead – Mint
Posted: at 7:41 pm
Let me try distracting you from war and disease with a joke. Schrdinger takes his cat to the vet for a check-up. The vet comes back 10 minutes later and says, Well, I have good news and bad news.. If you snickered at this, you know a bit about the Schrdingers Cat paradox, and therefore perhaps a little bit about quantum physics. For those who did not, the paradox explains the seeming contradiction between what we see with our naked eye and what quantum theory tells us actually exists in its microscopic state. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics states that a particle exists in all states at once until observed. Schrdingers cat is in a box, and could be alive or dead. But till the box is opened, you would not be able to know. Thus, the vets quandary.
This principle, among others, powers one of the most exciting and bleeding- edge advances in technology: Quantum computing. I have written about it before in Mint, but to summarize: Our current powerful computers follow the principles of the Turing machine, where information is encoded in bits (1 and 0) and a series of operations (and, or, not, etc) make these bits compute. A quantum computer uses qubits or the quantum version of bits; a qubit is not permanently a 0 or 1, but it can be both at the same time. Only at the end of the computation (when the box is opened), can you know whether its 0 or 1. During the computation process, its exact state is indeterminate and can contain bits of both. If this whooshed over your head, console yourself with what Bill Gates said in a 2017 interview: I know a lot of physics and a lot of math. But the one place where they put up slides and it is hieroglyphics, its quantum."
A quantum computer can exploit these properties of quantum physics to perform certain calculations far more efficiently and faster than any computer or supercomputer, inspiring the likes of Microsoft, IBM and Google to work feverishly on this form of computing. This is especially urgent because Moores Law is flattening but our problems are becoming more complex: climate change, artificial general intelligence, drug personalization. While this is super exciting, a recent BBC article (bbc.in/3pA7pIY ) about the quantum apocalypse made me pause.
As a hidden force behind e-commerce, online banking and trading, crypto trading, social networking and internet messaging, almost everything we do involves encryption. Most encryption uses public and private keys, and that in turn uses arcane mathematical calculations involving prime numbers. Using a Turing computer to crack this encryption is virtually impossible. It would take thousands of years. However, a quantum computer can potentially do this in mere seconds. Every minute, huge amounts of encrypted data is harvested without our knowledge and stored in vast data banks, waiting for the day that it can finally be decrypted. Today, there is nothing data thieves can do with this treasure trove, but once a functioning quantum computer appears that will be able to break that encryption... it can almost instantly create the ability for whoevers developed it to clear bank accounts, to completely shut down government defence systemsBitcoin wallets will be drained." says lyas Khan, chief executive of Quantinuum. Moreover, current encryption methods will be useless, halting online banking transactions, e-commerce, social media interactions, everything. The security of every public blockchain will be under threat from quantum computing power, since it relies on heavy duty cryptography; it was no coincidence that the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply the day Google made its announcement of achieving quantum supremacy a year ago. It was a portent of the quantum apocalypse.
The world is gearing up for this post-quantum world. Google, Microsoft, Intel and IBM are working on solutions. So are specialist startups like Post-Quantum and Quantinuum. The UK government claims that all its top-secret data is already post-quantum. The BBC talks of a beauty parade taking place to establish a standardised defence strategy that will protect industry, government, academia and critical national infrastructure against the perils of the quantum apocalypse." New cryptographic methods like quantum key distribution are being developed, by which even if the message gets intercepted, no one can read it, much like the cat.
All this will not be cheap, nor will it be easy. But we have no choicemost of our world runs digitally now and its wheels need to be kept humming. To do that, we need to think out of the box.
Jaspreet Bindra is the chief tech whisperer at Findability Sciences, and learning AI, Ethics and Society at Cambridge University.
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Truman and Hruby 2022 Fellows at Sandia Explore Their Possibilities – insideHPC – insideHPC
Posted: at 7:41 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Postdoctoral researchers who are designated Truman and Hruby fellows experience Sandia National Laboratories differently from their peers.
Appointees to the prestigious fellowships are given the latitude to pursue their own ideas, rather than being trained by fitting into the research plans of more experienced researchers. To give wings to this process, the four annual winners two for each category are 100 percent pre-funded for three years. This enables them, like bishops or knights in chess, to cut across financial barriers, walk into any group and participate in work by others that might help illuminate the research each has chosen to pursue.
The extraordinary appointments are named for former President Harry Truman and former Sandia President Jill Hruby, now the U.S. Department of Energy undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Truman wrote to the president of Bell Labs that he had an opportunity, in Sandias very early days, to perform exceptional service in the national interest. The President Harry S Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineeringcould be said to assert Sandias intention to continue to fulfill Trumans hope.
TheJill Hruby Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineeringoffers the same pay, benefits and privileges as the Truman. It honors former Sandia President Jill Hruby, the first woman to direct a national laboratory. While all qualified applicants will be considered for this fellowship, and its purpose is to pursue independent research to develop advanced technologies to ensure global peace, another aim is to develop a cadre of women in the engineering and science fields who are interested in technical leadership careers in national security.
The selectees are:
2022 Truman Fellows
Alicia Magann: The quantum information science toolkit
Alicia Magann will explore quantum control in the era of quantum computing. (Photo courtesy Alicia Magann)
To help speed the emergence of quantum computers as important research tools, Magann is working to create a quantum information science toolkit. These modeling and simulation algorithms should enable quantum researchers to hit the ground running with meaningful science as quantum computing hardware improves, she says.
At Sandia, she will be working with Sandias quantum computer science department to develop algorithms for quantum computers that can be used to study the control of molecular systems.Her focus will extend aspects of her doctoral research at Princeton University to help explore the possibilities of quantum control in the era of quantum computing.
Im most interested in probing how interactions between light and matter can be harnessed towards new science and technology, Magann said. How well can we control the behavior of complicated quantum systems by shining laser light on them? What kinds of interesting dynamics can we create, and what laser resources do we need?
A big problem, she says, is that its so difficult to explore these questions in much detail on conventional computers. But quantum computers would give us a much more natural setting for doing this computational exploration.
Her mentor, Mohan Sarovar, is an ideal mentor because hes knowledgeable about quantum control and quantum computing the two fields Im connecting with my project.
During her doctoral research, Magann was a DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellow and also served as a graduate intern in Sandias extreme-scale data science and analytics department, where she heard by word of mouth about the Truman and Hruby fellowships. She applied for both and was thrilled to be interviewed and thrilled to be awarded the Truman.
Technical journals in which her work has been published include Quantum, Physical Review A, Physical Review Research, PRX Quantum, and IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. One of her most recent 2021 publications is Digital Quantum Simulation of Molecular Dynamics & Control in Physical Review Research.
Gabriel Shipley: Mitigating instabilities at Sandias Z machine
Gabriel Shipley will investigate 3D instabilities in pulsed-power-driven implosions at Sandias Z machine,(Photo courtesy of Gabe Shipley)
When people mentioned the idea to Gabe Shipley about applying for a Truman fellowship, he scoffed. He hadnt gone to an Ivy League school. He hadnt studied with Nobel laureates. What he had done, by the time he received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2021, was work at Sandia for eight years as an undergraduate student intern from 2013 and a graduate student intern since 2015. He wasnt sure that counted.
The candidates for the Truman are rock stars, Shipley told colleague Paul Schmit. When they graduate, theyre offered tenure track positions at universities.
Schmit, himself a former Truman selectee and in this case a walking embodiment of positive reinforcement, advised, Dont sell yourself short.
That was good advice. Shipley needed to keep in mind that as a student, he led 75 shots on Mykonos, a relatively small Sandia pulsed power machine, significantly broadening its use. I was the first person to execute targeted physics experiments on Mykonos, he said. He measured magnetic field production using miniature magnetic field probes and optically diagnosed dielectric breakdown in the target.
He used the results to convince management to let him lead seven shots on Sandias premier Z machine, an expression of confidence rarely bestowed upon a student. I got amazing support from colleagues, he said. These are the best people in the world.
Among them is theoretical physicist Steve Slutz, who theorized that a magnetized target, preheated by a laser beam, would intensify the effect of Zs electrical pulse to produce record numbers of fusion reactions. Shipley has worked to come up with physical solutions that would best embody that theory.
With Sandia physicist Thomas Awe, he developed methods that may allow researchers to scrap external structures called Helmholtz coils to provide magnetic fields and instead create them using only an invented architecture that takes advantage of Zs own electrical current.
His Truman focus investigating the origins and evolution of 3D instabilities in pulsed-power-driven implosions would ameliorate a major problem with Z pinches if what he finds proves useful. Instabilities have been recognized since at least the 1950s as weakening pinch effectiveness. They currently limit the extent of compression and confinement achievable in the fusion fuel. Mitigating their effect would be a major achievement for everyone at Z and a major improvement for every researcher using those facilities.
Shipley has authored articles in the journal Physics of Plasmas and provided invited talks at the Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics and the 9thFundamental Science with Pulsed Power: Research Opportunities and User Meeting. His most recent publication in Physics of Plasmas, Design of Dynamic Screw Pinch Experiments for Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion, represents another attempt to increase Z machine output.
Sommer Johansen: Wheres the nitrogen?
Sommer Johansen aims to improve models showing how burning bio-derived fuels affect ecology and forest fires caused by climate change . (Photo courtesy of Sommer Johansen)
Sommer Johansen received her doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of California, Davis, where her thesis involved going backward in time to explore the evolution of prebiotic molecules in the form of cyclic nitrogen compounds; her time machine consisted of combining laboratory spectroscopy and computational chemistry to learn how these molecules formed during the earliest stages of our solar system.
Cyclic nitrogen-containing organic molecules are found on meteorites, but we have not directly detected them in space. So how were they formed and why havent we found where that happens? she asked.
That work, funded by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, formed the basis of publications in The Journal of Physical Chemistry and resulted in the inaugural Lewis E. Snyder Astrochemistry Award at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy. The work also was the subject of an invited talk she gave at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Stars & Planets Seminar in 2020.
At Sandia, she intends to come down to Earth, both literally and metaphorically, by experimenting at Sandias Combustion Research Facility in Livermore on projects of her own design.
She hopes to help improve comprehensive chemical kinetics models of the after-effects on Earths planetary ecology of burning bio-derived fuels and the increasingly severe forest fires caused by climate change.
Every time you burn something that was alive, nitrogen-containing species are released, she says. However, the chemical pathways of organic nitrogen-containing species are vastly under-represented in models of combustion and atmospheric chemistry, she says. We need highly accurate models to make accurate predictions. For example, right now it isnt clear how varying concentrations of different nitrogenated compounds within biofuels could affect efficiency and the emission of pollutants, she said.
Johansen will be working with the gas-phase chemical physics department, studying gas-phase nitrogen chemistry at Sandias Livermore site under the mentorship of Lenny Sheps and Judit Zdor. UC Davis is close to Livermore, and the Combustion Research Facility there was always in the back of my mind. I wanted to go there, use the best equipment in the world and work with some our fields smartest people.
She found particularly attractive that the Hruby fellowship not only encouraged winners to work on their own projects but also had a leadership and professional development component to help scientists become well-rounded. Johansen had already budgeted time outside lab work at UC Davis, where for five years she taught or helped assistants teach a workshop for incoming graduate students on the computer program Python. We had 30 people a year participating, until last year (when we went virtual) and had 150.
The program she initiated, she says, became a permanent fixture in my university.
Alex Downs: Long-lived wearable biosensors
As Alex Downs completed her doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in August 2021, she liked Sandia on LinkedIn. The Hruby postdoc listing happened to show up, she said, and it interested her. She wanted to create wearable biosensors for long duration, real-time molecular measurements of health markers that would be an ongoing measurement of a persons well-being. This would lessen the need to visit doctors offices and labs for evaluations that were not only expensive but might not register the full range of a persons illness.
Alex Downs hopes to create wearable biosensors that gather molecular measurements from health markers. (Photo courtesy of Alex Downs)
Her thesis title was Electrochemical Methods for Improving Spatial Resolution, Temporal Resolution, and Signal Accuracy of Aptamer Biosensors.
She thought, Theres a huge opportunity here for freedom to explore my research interests. I can bring my expertise in electrochemistry and device fabrication and develop new skills working with microneedles and possibly other sensing platforms. That expertise is needed because a key problem with wearable biosensors is that in the body, they degrade. To address this, Downs wants to study the stability of different parts of the sensor interface when its exposed to bodily fluids, like blood.
I plan not only to make the sensors longer lasting by improved understanding of how the sensors are impacted by biofouling in media, I will also investigate replacing the monolayers used in the present sensor design with new, more fouling resistant monolayers, she said.
The recognition element for this type of biosensor are aptamers strands of DNA that bind specifically to a given target, such as a small molecule or protein. When you add a reporter to an aptamer sequence and put it down on a conductive surface, you can measure target binding to the sensor as a change in electrochemical signal, she said.
The work fits well with Sandias biological and chemical sensors team, and when Downs came to Sandia in October, she was welcomed with coffee and donuts from her mentor Ronen Polsky, an internationally recognized expert in wearable microneedle sensors. Polsky introduced her to other scientists, told her of related projects and discussed research ideas.
Right now, meeting with people all across the Labs has been helpful, she said. Later, I look forward to learning more about the Laboratory Directed Research and Development review process, going to Washington, D.C. and learning more about how science policy works. But right now, Im mainly focused on setting up a lab to do the initial experiments for developing microneedle aptamer-based sensors, Downs said.
source: Sandia National Laboratories
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PsiQuantums Partnership with GlobalFoundries Named to Fast Companys Worlds Most Innovative Companies List – Yahoo Finance
Posted: at 7:41 pm
Manufacturing breakthrough will lead to quantum chips with the precision required to build the worlds first useful quantum computer
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 15, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PsiQuantum's partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF) has been included in Fast Companys prestigious annual list of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies. PsiQuantum is using GFs advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities to build the worlds first useful quantum computer, and the Fast Company award recognizes this unprecedented collaboration.
This years list honors businesses that are making the biggest impact on their industries and culture as a whole. These companies are creating the future today with some of the most inspiring accomplishments of the 21st century. In addition to the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations are recognized across 52 categories.
Quantum computing is anticipated to unlock the solutions to otherwise impossible problems and enable extraordinary advances across a broad range of applications including climate, healthcare, life sciences, energy and beyond. Whether its improving carbon capture catalysts, optimizing the energy grid, or modelling the chemistries of lifesaving drugs or new battery materials, quantum computers are key to solving many of the worlds most demanding challenges that will forever be beyond the capabilities of any conventional computer.
World-changing applications require a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer built in a scalable and proven manufacturing environment. Silicon photonics and semiconductor chip manufacturing offer the scalability and manufacturability needed to deliver a commercially useful quantum computer on any sensible time or money scale.
PsiQuantum is building the worlds first commercially useful, fault-tolerant quantum computer based on breakthroughs in silicon photonics and quantum architecture. Its team of world-renowned quantum computing experts has developed unique technology in which single photons (particles of light) are manipulated using complex photonic circuits, patterned onto a silicon chip using standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques.
Story continues
PsiQuantum and GF demonstrated a world-first ability to manufacture core quantum components, such as single-photon sources and single-photon detectors, with precision and in volume, representing a significant milestone in PsiQuantums roadmap to deliver a large-scale quantum computer. Fast Company recognized the collaboration between PsiQuantum and GF as one of the 10 most innovative joint ventures of 2022, an award category defined by Fast Company as "the best business pairings, whether one-off collaborations or new companies".
"A commercially useful quantum computer has to be large, fault-tolerant, manufacturable, and scalable," said Fariba Danesh, chief operating officer at PsiQuantum. "We have identified a clear path for building a large-scale quantum computer, leveraging our unique technology in silicon photonics and quantum system architecture, and the scalable and proven manufacturing processes of our semiconductor partner GF."
"We are proud that our partnership with PsiQuantum has been recognized as one of the most innovative business pairings of 2022," said Amir Faintuch, senior vice president and general manager of Computing and Wired Infrastructure at GF. "Our partnership is a powerful combination of PsiQuantums photonic quantum computing expertise and GFs silicon photonics manufacturing capability that will transform industries and technology applications across climate, energy, healthcare, materials science, and government."
Fast Companys editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses across the globe and industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process. The Worlds Most Innovative Companies is Fast Companys signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides both a snapshot and a road map for the future of innovation across the most dynamic sectors of the economy.
"The worlds most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether theyre fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions," said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky.
For the second year in a row, coinciding with the issue launch, Fast Company will host its Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 26 27. The virtual, multi-day summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business and provides an early look at major business trends and an inside look at what it takes to innovate in 2022. Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2022) is available online here, as well as in app form via iTunes and on newsstands beginning March 15. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.
About PsiQuantum
Powered by breakthroughs in silicon photonics and quantum architecture, PsiQuantum is building the first commercially useful quantum computer to solve some of the worlds most important challenges. PsiQuantum believes silicon photonics is the only way to achieve the necessary scale required to deliver a fault-tolerant, general-purpose quantum computer. With quantum chips now being manufactured in a world-leading semiconductor fab, PsiQuantum is uniquely positioned to deliver quantum capabilities that will drive advances in climate, healthcare, finance, energy, agriculture, transportation, communications, and beyond. To learn more, visit http://www.psiquantum.com.
Follow PsiQuantum: LinkedIn
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at http://www.fastcompany.com.
2022 PsiQuantum. PsiQuantum and our logo are trademarks of PsiQuantum, Corp. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220315005492/en/
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