Category Archives: Quantum Computing

March 24, 2021Alex Woodie

At first glance, IBM i servers and quantum computers appear to be worlds apart. But considering the rapid advance of quantum computing today and the midrange servers place in a long line of advances in business computing, they may not be as far removed as one might think.

Thats the general conclusion one could draw from listening to Jack Woehr and Jesse Gorzinski discussing the topic of quantum computing during Woehrs presentation, From Hamilton to Hollerith: Whats the Use of Quantum Computers? during last weeks IBM i Futures Conference, which was sponsored by COMMON.

In addition to writing IBM i code and working with open source software on the platform, Woehr, who previously was an editor at the now-defunct Dr. Dobbs Journal, is also active in the quantum computing community. That activity, plus his 40 years of experience as a programmer, gives him a unique perspective into how the future lines of quantum computing and IBM i may intersect.

In Woehrs view, quantum computing is something that younger developers should keep an eye on. The technology is not necessarily ready for mainstream adoption today, but its moving so quickly and showing such promise that ignoring it would be a mistake, he said.

Like so many other things, its where the world is going, and if you want to stay competitive, youre going to have to deal with this, Woehr said. And if youre young, [quantum computing is] going to be there before you retire.

The IBM Q System One.

Just as it took some time for organizations to accept that digital binary computers were the future and to give up their punch card systems back in the 1940s and 1950s, there will be a period of transition between todays digital binary computers and the quantum computers of tomorrow, Woehr predicted.

When digital binary computers first came in, they were attaching to punch card machines and saying, look what we can do? And theyd say, well, we can already do that. Why would you want to buy this expensive machine to do that? Woehr said. Well, we know the answer to that now. But it wasnt as obvious from 1946 to 1953 as it is now.

Its hard to overstate the changes that modern computers have had on our lives. Many aspects of how we work and play have been digitized, and the digitization has increased during COVID-19. The most valuable companies in the world are technology companies (although some would call them data companies).

We have built all this technology on a platform of digital binary computing, which has Boolean algebra as its foundation. Everything were doing today electronically is these three operators, and, or, and not, which is all that digital binary computers actually do, Woehr said. Its had this tremendous effect on our world. But this was again not obvious to the people who would become very adept at operating the paper punch card machines.

Quantum computing promises to fundamentally transform how we calculate, how we program, and how we develop applications. Instead of two bits and three basic operators, quantum computing brings a much more capable mathematical underpinning that will unlock new capabilities, Woehr said.

Quantum computing is multi-dimensional compared to [digital binary computers] because its not based on Boolean algebra, Woehr said. Its based on linear algebra matrices multiplied [by] vectors, and the matrices and vectors are matrices and vectors of complex numbers.

In digital binary computing, only amplitude factors in, giving us ones and zeros. Well, quantum computing makes up amplitude and phase, for a start, and theres a lot of other things that are different about them. Theyre digital binary bits, but its more multi-dimensional than the way we compute now. And its likely to transform our world in ways that we cannot imagine.

The miracle of digital binary computers allows IBM i developer Jack Woehr to appear to be in Hawaii (he actually lives in Colorado).

IBM, Google, and Microsoft arguably are the leaders in developing quantum computers today, but there are a lot of other companies from around the world making a play, with a variety of designs, some of which will go further than others. Its hard to tell who the leaders will be in the near future because the field is so new and moving so quickly, Woehr said. Were in a caucus race with quantum computing, he said, referencing the tumultuous footrace that took place in Alice in Wonderland.

In fact, there is a technical term for the raucous quantum din: Noisy Intermediate-Stage Quantum, or NISQ. What that means is, it sort of works, but its hard to get the right answer from it. You have to really look at what its saying, Woehr said.

One of the problems is that quantum computers are not very good at holding onto their state. Getting materials into the quantum state, and keeping them there, is currently a work in progress. That presents a problem when trying to get quantum computers to do useful work, such as solving an optimization problem (which is one class of applications that quantum computers excel at).

There is plenty of work to do in quantum computing, and that work is moving extremely fast. Its unclear exactly when some of these problems are going to be solved, and when quantum computers will be practical for adoption by businesses. But theres one thing that nobody doubts any more: whether quantum computing actually works.

But that wasnt the case 11 years ago.

There was some doubt in 2010 if this was real or not, Woehr said. Even in scientific circles there were doubts whether this was real. But it does work and we know it works now.

The main benefit is a time advantage, he said. With its richer space of operators and states, quantum computers solve some problems significantly faster than traditional binary computers.

Optimization problems are one of the most promising areas for quantum computers, Woehr said. For example, some companies put a lot of time into calculating how much ore theyre likely to remove from a mine. They consider the placement of ore in the mine, along with variables like fuel and labor costs, the weather, and market prices.

You have these huge, huge optimization problems that have many, many variable and they put them on supercomputers and run for weeks, Woehr said. Quantum computing happens to be very good at optimization.

This is where the futures of quantum computing and IBM i may intersect. Today, developers are programming quantum computers using open source frameworks like Qiskit (pronounced kiss-kit), which is a project that IBM is behind. Woehr and Gorzinski are both active in the Qiskit community. During their chat, Woehr demonstrated how an optimization problem could be solved on the IBM Q computer using Grovers Algorithm developed in Qiskit.

The problem they were solving00the optimal combination of ingredients to brew a batch of beer could be extended to many industries and use cases. Grovers can be used to solve the types of application problems that IBM i folks are familiar with, Woehr said.

Suddenly everyone here whos listening in will realize this could be any problem, he said. Grovers will be any kind of problem any kind of problem where we have multiple variables and some combination of their state is a valid solution and some combinations are not.

Gorzinski agreed. I think it comes back to this notion that theres a tidal wave coming but there are real applied use case that are out there for a lot of industries, especially the industries that the IBM listeners today are probably part of, he said. Its a competitive scenario in the future. People are going to want to adopt this technology, in my opinion.

Quantum computing may not be mainstream in 10 or even 20 years. But the pace of advances in the field is quickening, Woehr says, and folks who are starting their computing careers today would be wise to keep an eye on how the field develops.

The reason to look at it now is just to orient yourself, he says. It may be a while before you see it in your organization. But its coming. If you are in your 20s now its certainly going to be there before youre my age, before youre ready to retire.

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Quantum Computing and IBM i - IT Jungle

The my Quantum computer is bigger than yours game has played out for many years, and the leading contenders in the Qubits superiority race are the USA and China.

Now Europe wants to get a seat at the big Quantum table, and there are EU consortiums and British led partnerships aiming to not only develop a hyper-fast computer but crucially, one that has many practical applications commercially.

So what are they up against? Well, the machine to beat at present is the Chinese computer called Jiuzhang, which the Chinese claim is just a mere 10billion times faster than Googles current offering. China says this gives them Quantum supremacy, but then they would because thats exactly the term used by Google to describe its Quantum offering.

Is there a difference between the Chinese machine and Googles? Yes, there is. Jiuzhang makes its calculations using optical circuits, whereas Google's uses Sycamore, which is superconducting materials on a chip, a design that resembles classical computers.

But, in the technological chest-thumping world of Quantum computing, there is just one boast that everyone wants to make, and that is, mines the fastest.

In the need-for-speed, Chinas Jiuzhang computer is claimed to be 100 trillion times faster than supercomputers. This means in seconds. It can do what normal computers would take millions of years to achieve. These figures are impressive, but a word of caution here does depend on what test the Quantum computer was given to perform as different tests can produce different computational speed results.

Nevertheless, the speed of true Quantum computing is mind-boggling, to say the least, and the real question is how these speeds are achieved? Qubits are how.

Normal computers can only calculate using bits that have only two working states that of 0 or 1. Quantum machines have bits (Qubits) that can provide numerous different states simultaneously. This is what gives them a tremendous speed boost. Get a load of these Qubits in a synchronised linkage, and they can calculate in seconds what would take a conventional computer millions of years.

Qubits represent atoms, ions, photons or electrons and give Quantum computers their inherent parallelism. This means that whereas a conventional computer will work on a single calculation, a Quantum computer can simultaneously work on millions.

But its not just all about the speed. Quantum computing falls in a big way in three areas, and these are, firstly, exactly what tests were made to achieve certain speed results. Secondly, are Quantum computers reliable and, thirdly, what practical applications can they handle that makes them a commercially viable proposition?

The point about speed tests is that not all speed tests are created equal. Quantum computers have to be set up to perform a specific function. To test Jiuzhang, the computer had to calculate the output of a complex circuit that used light. It detected an average of 40 outputs, and its time to do that was a mere three minutes, whereas one of the worlds fastest supercomputers would have taken two billion years to reach the same conclusion. But this was a specially-tailored test and didnt necessarily have relevance to broader applications in the commercial world.

Googles Sycamore testing also came into scrutiny from rival IBM, and again the discussion came down to how relevant was the testing in terms of real-world practicality.

So given these out-of-this-world performance figures, it makes Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxys supercomputer Deep Thought look pretty pedestrian. It took Deep Thought a pedestrian 7.5 million years to decide the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything was 42.

Another operational shortfall with Quantum computing is reliability. By their very nature, Qubits are not durable and can easily be upset and need to be in a perfect, temperature-controlled environment that is totally free of vibrations and ambient atomic structures. This, of course, can be created to keep the Qubits bits happy. Still, the length of time they will operate efficiently and accurately is minimal before they technically slow down and abdicate their Quantum coherence.

So while we are all astonished at examples of their computational speeds, Quantum computers are not anywhere near becoming a commercially viable proposition.

Enter the first European consortium that has ambitions to change all that. Its snappily titled the German Quantum Computer based on Superconducting Qubits (GeQCoS) group. Munich chip-maker Infineon and scientists from five research institutes in Germany aim to drive forward the development and industrialisation of Quantum computing.

According to Infineon, Quantum computers have the potential to replace existing conventional computers in specific applications. They could, for example, calculate simulations of complex molecules for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, complicated optimisations for the automotive and aviation industry, or new findings from the analysis of complex financial data.

The project is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research and hopes to create a Quantum processor based on superconducting Qubits and demonstrate its special capabilities on a prototype within four years. Working together to achieve this are scientists at the Walther Meisner Institute of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Technical University of Munich, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Forschungszentrum Jlich and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics and Infineon.

If we in Germany and Europe dont want to be dependent for this future technology solely on American or Asian know-how, we must move forward with the industrialisation now, explained Sebastian Luber, senior director of technology & innovation at Infineon.

Naturally, Germany is not alone in its bid to gain Quantum supremacy. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is also part of a consortium seeking a Quantum technology lead.

It correctly believes superconducting processors could become a key ingredient for creating the next generation of supercomputers. Firstly, they could help tackle the major challenge of scaling up Quantum computers and secondly, they could speed up traditional supercomputers and drastically cut their power consumption.

A multidisciplinary research project led by VTT will tackle one of the main technical challenges to achieve this, the data transfer to and from low temperatures required for superconductivity.

The VTT consortium consists of Tampere University in Finland, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, ETH Zrich in Switzerland and PTB, the national metrology institute of Germany, and corporate partners Single Quantum in the Netherlands and Polariton Technologies in Switzerland. It is a three-year project.

We know that a Quantum computer's processing power is based on superconducting Qubits operating at extremely low temperatures, and Qubits are typically controlled by conventional electronics at room temperature and connected through electrical cables. However, when the number of Qubits eventually rises to the required level of hundreds of thousands, the number of control cables to match the number of Qubits will generate an extreme heat-load that considerably inhibits Quantum's speed processors.

One solution is to control the Quantum processor with a nearby classical processor. A promising solution is to use the single flux Quantum (SFQ) technology which emulates traditional computers in logic but uses superconducting technology instead of conventional semiconductors. Because it requires low operational temperatures, SFQ has rarely been used in traditional computers. This disadvantage, however, turns into an advantage when used in combination with superconducting Quantum computers.

But a major challenge remains. Calculation instructions come to the SFQ processor from a conventional supercomputer, and calculation results must be sent back from the SFQ processor to the same machine. This requires data transfer between extremely low temperatures and room temperatures which doesnt suit conventional semiconductors.

The VTT projects vision is to replace electrical cables with optical fibres and suitable converters which convert optical signals to electrical signals and vice versa. Unlike existing solutions, these components must be able to operate at low temperatures. This will require the development of innovative converters that can drive and read out a simple SFQ processor.

Besides Quantum computers, conventional supercomputers could benefit from the development of optical connections for SFQ technology. A major limitation of supercomputers is the extremely high-power consumption of CPUs and GPUs due to the silicon chips' energy dissipation. Replacing silicon chips with superconducting SFQ chips in GPUs could have a notable impact on supercomputers' performance and power consumption.

Here in the United Kingdom, Oxford Instruments Nanoscience announces significant innovation in its Cryofree dilution refrigerator technology. It believes the advancement of its ProteoxLX, a dilution refrigerator, will take the research into Quantum computing to the next level, enabling its commercialisation globally.

Since the launch of Proteox at APS Physics last year, Oxford Instruments has announced its partnership with the University of Glasgow and Rigetti and Oxford Quantum Circuits. Oxford Instruments NanoScience has also secured significant wins outside of Europe, more recently with Proteox selected by SpinQ Technology in China.

NanoScience is committed to driving leadership and innovation to support the development and commercialisation of Quantum computing around the world, explained Stuart Woods, managing director of Oxford Instruments NanoScience.

The ProteoxLX can maximise Qubit counts with large sample space and ample coaxial wiring capacity, low vibration features for reduced noise and support of long Qubit coherence times and full integration of signal conditioning components.

The LX also provides two fully customisable secondary Inserts for an optimised layout of cold electronics and high-capacity input and output lines, fully compatible and interchangeable across the Proteox family. Finally, the ProteoxLX offers 25 W cooling power available at 20 mK, low base temperature at < 7 mK, and twin pulse tubes providing up to 4.0 W cooling power at 4 K.

All these UK and EU corporate and academic consortium driven projects to advance Quantum computing should give the US and Chinese technologists some challenges relative to who stays ahead in the race to develop a commercially viable machine. Still, I dont expect either the US or China will be resting on their Qubit laurels.

Continued here:

Quantum Computing- The UK and Europe play catch-up with the USA and China. - Electropages

Earlier this month, IBM presented some of the work it is doing to further its goals to develop a 1,000-qubit quantum computer.

Among the work in quantum computing that IBM showcased is a new technique that allows researchers to test the preliminary results of a quantum algorithm, which is then used to continuously refine the algorithm. This technique makes quantum software much more precise and easier to fine-tune, which means quantum programmers will be able to develop more and more sophisticated algorithms.

In 2020, IBM laid out a roadmap in which it hopes to deliver systems with 1,121 qubits by 2023, for running quantum applications in natural sciences.

IBM has a multi-pronged plan to get the world of IT thinking about quantum computing. It is a phenomenon that promises so much, but is so far removed from what has come before, that many struggle to get their heads around the terminologies. IBM has published a roadmap that illustrates its path to getting value from quantum computing.

Jerry Chow, director, quantum hardware system development at IBM Quantum, said the company is trying hard to attract a broad developer community to quantum computing. We want frictionless development that does not need to be more specialised than classic computing, he said.

But from a conversation Computer Weekly had with Chow recently, it is apparent that there is a gap in understanding between the level of abstraction offered in modern classical computing and what is required to get to grips with quantum computing.

From a software roadmap perspective, Chow said some of this work involves building out the fundamental base layer to control how the device works, which is a bit like the application programming interfaces (APIs) that a kernel developer on classical computing uses. In the world of quantum, this means concepts such as rotating qubits and building a seamless network between quantum computing and classical computing.

For 2021, the IBM roadmap has a milestone to deliver more feature to Qiskit, its toolkit and runtime software to manage low-level quantum computer programming.

Then there is the idea of pulse control. Pulse control is equivalent to the hardware abstraction layer in an operating system, said Chow.

In effect, the developer drives pulses that control qubits. Conceptually, Chow describes this as akin to programming a microprocessor in assembler language, where the assembler allows a programmer to send machine code instructions to the processor in order to manipulate logical bits on a classical computer.

He said a quantum circuit is analogous to digital gate operations, such as the binary logic And, Or and Nand (Not And) operations for manipulating zero and one bits in classic computing. But unlike these simple binary operations, which are effectively encoded as digital circuits in a microprocessor, quantum circuits are able to run far more complex operations than is achievable in binary logic, said Chow.

The QASM tool in Qiskit effectively performs the same function as an assembler, but sends instructions to manipulate qubits on a quantum computer, rather than sending instructions to manipulate logical bits to a classical computer.

There are provable gaps, where quantum circuits have an advantage over classic circuits, said Chow. By 2022, IBM plans to be able to run dynamic circuits on its quantum computers, he said, and these expand the variety of quantum algorithms that can be run.

Up to this point on its roadmap for quantum computing, IBM has targeted the kernel developers who build quantum circuits that talk directly to the hardware and algorithm developers who consume these circuits as they build out quantum applications.

During 2023, according to its roadmap, IBM is planning to deliver libraries of pre-built quantum circuits, and raise the level of abstraction with pre-built quantum runtime software. As is the case with an operating system running on a classical computer, this should enable developers to start creating quantum applications in high-level programming languages without having to understand the intricacies and vagaries of qubits.

One of those quirks is that quantum computing is error-prone. In quantum terms, they are regarded as noisy. Just as memory chips need error corrections, there is work under way to detect and fix errors in quantum computing.

One of the biggest issues in scaling quantum computers is eliminating the errors that naturally occur in a two-qubit gate the building blocks of a quantum computer. Among the ideas IBM presented recently is a new method to reduce errors, which will make it easier to achieve higher quantum volume devices in years to come.

One example IBM is trying, said Chow, is a small error detect scheme, where, at a small scale, code can be developed such that it can ensure integrity. He said the company is looking to drive new ideas to perform large error correction code.

Quantum inspired is one of the terms the industry has coined as an interim step towards mainstream quantum computing. In effect, a computer can be developed in a way that simulates some aspects of quantum computing. In some cases, such quantum-inspired algorithms can solve problems more efficiently than other approaches running on a classical computer.

Chow said IBM has done a lot of work on simulating its Q System to give developers a way to test quantum algorithms before running them on a real machine. Clearly, there will be a limit to how complex an algorithm can be simulated on a classical computer and, as error correction evolves, it may become increasingly difficult to check that a quantum computer is giving the same results as a simulation running on a classical computing architecture.

Quantum computing does appear to be a radical departure from previous models of computing. But in the last few years, the industry has adopted different computing paradigms. Just as the GPU (graphics processing unit) offered software developers a route into writing code that could run in parallel across multiple processing cores, Chow believes quantum computing will ultimately become another computer resource at their disposal.

It is another model of computation, he said. Some applications may run on high-performance computing in the cloud; others may go on cloud-based quantum computers.

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Laying the groundwork on quantum roadmap - ComputerWeekly.com

Using Zapatas quantum workflows platform, Orquestra, KAUST will explore how quantum computing can simulate and optimize the aerodynamic design process for vehicles

BOSTON, March 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zapata Computing, Inc., the leading enterprise software company for NISQ-based quantum applications, today announced a new partnership with Middle East-based King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to be a licensed user of Zapatas Orquestra, the modular, workflow-based platform for applied quantum computing. KAUST is examining various lines of research to determine how quantum technologies could represent an advantage over classical compute tools in a variety of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) use cases for airplane and automobile aerodynamic design.

Currently, CFD computations are extremely time-consuming and expensive to run. The simulation process is inefficient, and a lot of time is wasted trying to model air flow around wings and engines more efficiently. Boosting work around those designs could allow manufacturers to build more energy-efficient airplanes and lead to lowered carbon emissions for air travel therefore, having an enormous positive impact on the environment. Airplane transportation is overall responsible for 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. For airlines and plane manufacturers this could drive meaningful financial and environmental results all supported by new quantum technology.

Home to the KAUST Research and Technology Park (KRTP) where R&D centers, corporates and start-ups choose to locate themselves, the university has a track record of collaborating with industry partners at national and international levels to transfer research-based technology into the market to achieve public benefit.

We are delighted to be the catalyst for bringing quantum capabilities to CFD research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the Middle East, said Kevin Cullen, vice president of Innovation and Economic Development at KAUST. This partnership establishes Zapata as one of the first quantum computing companies active in the region and will enable KAUST researchers to explore the future of aerospace fluid dynamics. KAUST is a leader in the areas of data analysis and AI and we welcome the addition of Zapatas Orquestra technology to our capabilities, in order to accelerate discovery and innovation in these fields.

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Zapatas Orquestra platform improves data analytics performance, empowering companies and research organizations to build quantum-enabled workflows, execute them across the full range of quantum and classical devices, and then collect and analyze resulting data. With Orquestra, organizations can leverage quantum capabilities to generate augmented data sets, speed up data analysis, and construct better data models for a range of applications. Importantly, it provides organizations with the most flexible, applied toolset in quantum computing so that its users can build quantum capabilities without getting locked in with a single vendor or architecture in the next several years.

We are always looking to expand quantum computing use cases through Orquestra and our work with KAUST will give us a head start to explore new opportunities for more efficient CFD, said Christopher Savoie, co-founder and CEO, Zapata. The collaboration with KAUST will benefit the aerospace industry as a whole by using quantum to bring efficiency to what has historically been a slow and difficult process.

About Zapata Computing Zapata Computing, Inc. builds quantum-ready applications for enterprise deployment through our flagship product Orquestra the only workflow-based toolset for enterprise quantum computing. Zapata has pioneered a new quantum-classical development and deployment paradigm that focuses on a range of use cases, including ML, optimization and simulation. Orquestra integrates best-in-class classical and quantum technologies including Zapata's leading-edge algorithms, open-source libraries in Python and Julia, and more. Zapata partners closely with hardware providers across the quantum ecosystem such as Amazon, Google, Honeywell, IBM, IonQ, Microsoft and Rigetti. Investors include BASF Venture Capital, Honeywell Ventures, Itochu Corporation and Merck Global Health.

For more information visit http://www.ZapataComputing.com and http://www.Orquestra.io.

About KAUSTEstablished in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the worlds most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food, water, energy and the environment. With 19 research areas related to these themes and state of the art labs, KAUST has created a collaborative and interdisciplinary problem-solving environment, which has resulted in over 11,000 published papers to date.

With over 100 different nationalities living, working and studying on campus, KAUST has brought together the best minds and ideas from around the world with the goal of advancing science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research. KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. For additional information, visit: http://www.Kaust.edu.sa

Media Contact: Anya Nelson Scratch Marketing + Media for Zapata Computing anyan@scratchmm.com617.817.6559

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UPDATE -- Zapata Computing and KAUST Partner to Bring Quantum Computing to the Middle East for the Advancement of Computational Fluid Dynamics - Yahoo...

From designing new polymers and pharmaceuticals to modeling climate change and cracking encryption, quantum computings potential applications have sparked a global quantum arms race.

Since the birth of the single-chip microprocessor 50 years ago, computers have performed calculations by manipulating bits of information ones and zeros using tiny transistors baked into silicon chips. Modern processors cram tens of billions of transistors into a chip the size of a fingernail.

Quantum computing does away with transistors. Instead, the ones and zeros dubbed qubits are recorded by changing the state of quantum objects, for example changing the magnetic orientation or spin of elementary particles like electrons.

Todays most powerful quantum computers can only string together a few dozen qubits, but they are already putting the most powerful traditional supercomputers to shame at some tasks.

Its not simply a question of raw processing power. While the electrical charge of a single transistor can either represent a one or a zero, a single qubit can actually represent both one and zero simultaneously thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics.

This allows quantum computers to process multiple outcomes simultaneously and dramatically reduce the number of steps required to tackle complex problems solving them in minutes rather than millennia.

Credit: Quantum Computing by IBM, by Microsoft, Googles Sycamore, Alibabas supercomputer

Using the building blocks of the universe to power the next generation supercomputers might seem like science fiction, but quantum computing is already a reality. The US and China are pouring billions of dollars into research and development, while Europe is also investing heavily and breakthroughs are occurring around the globe.

Along with universities, private sector tech giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Alibaba and Baidu are also paving the way. At the same time, startups are working to solve some of the challenges which must be overcome for quantum computing to reach its full potential.

In October 2019, Googles Californian research lab became the first to achieve quantum supremacy, performing a calculation that would be practically impossible for even the most powerful classical supercomputer. Googles 53-qubit Sycamore processor performed a calculation in 200 seconds which would have taken the worlds most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.

The University of Science and Technology of China achieved quantum supremacy only 14 months later, claiming its Jiuzhang quantum computer to be 10 billion times faster than Googles.

According to the Chinese team, their computer named Jiuzhang is 10 billion times faster than the worlds first quantum supercomputer developed by Google two years ago. (University of Science & Technology of China)

While quantum supremacy is a major achievement, if quantum computing is a moonshot then quantum supremacy is only the equivalent of Yuri Gagarins first space flight. Many challenges still lie ahead and fully-fledged, fault-tolerant quantum computers may still be more than a decade away.

So far, quantum supremacy has only been achieved using computers and calculations especially designed to demonstrate quantum computings strengths, but not to solve real-world problems.

A key milestone will be to achieve practical quantum supremacy when tackling real-world challenges, says Professor Andrea Morello. Winner of the American Physical Societys inaugural Rolf Landauer and Charles H. Bennett Award in Quantum Computing, Morello leads one of the University of New South Wales quantum computing research teams in Sydney, Australia.

Practical quantum supremacy may still be a decade away, Morello says. It is difficult to predict which problem will be solved first, but one possibility is calculating a chemical reaction in order to synthesize a new pharmaceutical.

Achieving practical quantum supremacy will require error correction and fault tolerance, similar to traditional computers. Error correction proves challenging at the quantum level, where qubits are highly susceptible to interference and only remain stable for milliseconds, Morello says:

Googles quantum supremacy was achieved using uncorrected qubit gates and, while this is impressive, error correction becomes important when youre aiming for practical quantum supremacy so you can trust the outcome enough to apply it to the real world. Quantum error correction has been demonstrated in the laboratory and right now a lot of resources are being invested into bringing it to fruition.

Summit supercomputer (Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

While progress continues towards practical quantum supremacy, intermediate quantum computers still offer an advantage over classical computers in certain optimized applications, says GlobalData graduate analyst Sam Holt.

Fully-fledged, universal and fault-tolerant quantum computers may be more than a decade away, but a flurry of recent partnerships have explored use cases on intermediate devices. In January 2021, for example, Roche announced a collaboration with Cambridge Quantum Computing to develop quantum simulations for new drug discovery for Alzheimers disease.

Roche employs noisy-intermediate-scale-quantum (NISQ) algorithms that lack error correction but are still useful for some tasks.

Another intermediate approach to quantum computing proposes installing low-qubit processors alongside traditional processors to act as quantum accelerators. This allows certain aspects of processing to benefit from the quantum advantage, similar to the way a CPU can hand off specific tasks to a dedicated graphics card.

Even once practical quantum supremacy is achieved, Holt says it is likely that businesses in a wide range of industries will choose to rent time on cloud-based quantum computers rather than invest in their own hardware.

Quantum cloud offerings from companies such as IBM are enabling widespread quantum computing. Quantum computings primary applications are in simulation, optimization, linear algebra and factorisation. These capabilities are increasingly becoming key requirements across a wide array of industries. Companies in these fields that are not at least investigating how quantum may transform their business risk getting left behind.

Even when error correction and practical quantum supremacy are achievable, traditional computers will still be considerably smaller, cheaper and more practical for most calculations, Morello says:

Using a quantum computer to solve most problems is like using a 747 to go to the supermarket. Just like a jumbo jet, quantum computing proves its worth when you need to do the heavy lifting.

Chemistry is shaping up as quantum computings first killer application, potentially helping humanity address some of its greatest challenges. Today the production of ammonia, the main ingredient of fertilizer, requires high-temperature furnaces which consume 2% of the worlds energy and produce 1% of its CO2 output. Bacteria can produce ammonia at room temperature and quantum computing may be the key to understanding and replicating this process.

Spider silk is a protein made by DNA but quantum computings superior ability to model at a subatomic level may unlock the ability to manufacture similar materials in an eco-friendly way (Credit: iStock)

In manufacturing, quantum computing could be used to develop new chemicals, polymers, and alloys. Industrial manufacturing still struggles to duplicate many materials with astonishing properties which exist in nature, such as spider silk.

By weight, spider silk is comparable with steel when it comes to tensile strength, but silk is not forged in a furnace. Because spider silk is a protein made by DNA, quantum computings superior ability to model at a subatomic level may unlock the ability to manufacture similar materials in an eco-friendly way, Morello says:

Quantum computing is a truly disruptive technology that can have gigantic value for science, for industry and for society. Its such a genuinely transformational technology that the vast majority of its applications will be things we havent even thought of yet quantum computing will help open up new worlds.

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The Race to Become the World's First Quantum Computing Superpower - DirectIndustry e-Magazine

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Artificial Intelligence in Military Market by Offering (Software, Hardware, Services), Technology (Machine Learning, Computer vision), Application, Installation Type, Platform, Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Artificial Intelligence in military market is estimated at USD 6.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 11.6 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 13.1% during the forecast period.

The Artificial Intelligence in Military market includes major players such as BAE Systems Plc. (UK), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Raytheon Technologies Corporation (US), Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Thales Group (US), L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (US), Rafael Advanced defense Systems (Israel), and IBM (US), among others. These players have spread their business across various countries includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. COVID-19 has not affected the Ai in military market growth to some extent, and this varies from country to country. Industry experts believe that the pandemic has not affected the demand for Artificial Intelligence in the military market in defense applications.

Based on platform, the space segment of the Artificial Intelligence in military market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Based on platform, the space segment of the Artificial Intelligence in military market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The space AI segment comprises CubeSat and satellites. Artificial intelligence systems for space platforms include various satellite subsystems that form the backbone of different communication systems. The integration of AI with space platforms facilitates effective communication between spacecraft and ground stations.

Software segment of the Artificial Intelligence in Military market by offering is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Based on offering, the Software segment is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Technological advances in the field of AI have resulted in the development of advanced AI software and related software development kits. AI software incorporated in computer systems is responsible for carrying out complex operations. It synthesizes the data received from hardware systems and processes it in an AI system to generate an intelligent response. The software segment is projected to witness the highest CAGR owing to the significance of AI software in strengthening the IT framework to prevent incidents of a security breach.

The North American market is projected to contribute the largest share from 2020 to 2025 in the Artificial Intelligence in Military market

The US and Canada are key countries considered for market analysis in the North American region. This region is expected to lead the market from 2020 to 2025, owing to increased investments in AI technologies by countries in this region. This market is led by the US, which is increasingly investing in AI systems to maintain its combat superiority and overcome the risk of potential threats on computer networks. The US plans to increase its spending on AI in the military to gain a competitive edge over other countries.

The North American US is recognized as one of the key manufacturers, exporters, and users of AI systems worldwide and is known to have the strongest AI capabilities. Key manufacturers of Ai systems in the US include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., and Raytheon. The new defense strategy of the US indicates an increase in AI spending to include advanced capabilities in existing defense systems of the US Army to counter incoming threats.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Restraints

Opportunities

Challenges

Companies Mentioned

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Global Artificial Intelligence in Military Market (2020 to 2025) - Incorporation of Quantum Computing in AI Presents Opportunities -...

Saudi-based King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) will be a licensed user of Zapata Computings Orquestra, the modular, workflow-based platform for applied quantum computing.

KAUST is examining various lines of research to determine how quantum technologies could represent an advantage over classical compute tools in a variety of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) use cases for airplane and automobile aerodynamic design.

Currently, CFD computations are extremely time-consuming and expensive to run. The simulation process is inefficient, and a lot of time is wasted trying to model air flow around wings and engines more efficiently.

Boosting work around those designs could allow manufacturers to build more energy-efficient airplanes and lead to lowered carbon emissions for air travel therefore, having an enormous positive impact on the environment.

Airplane transportation is overall responsible for 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. For airlines and plane manufacturers this could drive meaningful financial and environmental results all supported by new quantum technology.

Home to the KAUST Research and Technology Park (KRTP) where R&D centres, corporates and start-ups choose to locate themselves, the university has a track record of collaborating with industry partners at national and international levels to transfer research-based technology into the market to achieve public benefit.

We are delighted to be the catalyst for bringing quantum capabilities to CFD research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the Middle East, said Kevin Cullen, Vice President of Innovation and Economic Development at KAUST.

This partnership establishes Zapata as one of the first quantum computing companies active in the region and will enable KAUST researchers to explore the future of aerospace fluid dynamics. KAUST is a leader in the areas of data analysis and AI and we welcome the addition of Zapatas Orquestra technology to our capabilities, in order to accelerate discovery and innovation in these fields.

Zapatas Orquestra platform improves data analytics performance, empowering companies, and research organisations to build quantum-enabled workflows, execute them across the full range of quantum and classical devices, and then collect and analyze resulting data.

With Orquestra, organizations can leverage quantum capabilities to generate augmented data sets, speed up data analysis, and construct better data models for a range of applications. Importantly, it provides organizations with the most flexible, applied toolset in quantum computing so that its users can build quantum capabilities without getting locked in with a single vendor or architecture in the next several years.

We are always looking to expand quantum computing use cases through Orquestra and our work with KAUST will give us a head start to explore new opportunities for more efficient CFD, said Christopher Savoie, co-founder and CEO, Zapata. The collaboration with KAUST will benefit the aerospace industry as a whole by using quantum to bring efficiency to what has historically been a slow and difficult process.

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Zapata and KAUST to bring quantum computing to the region - Construction Business News

Using Zapatas quantum workflows platform, Orquestra, KAUST will explore how quantum computing can simulate and optimize the aerodynamic design process for vehicles

BOSTON, March 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zapata Computing, Inc., the leading enterprise software company for NISQ-based quantum applications, today announced a new partnership with Middle East-based King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to be a licensed user of Zapatas Orquestra, the modular, workflow-based platform for applied quantum computing. KAUST is examining various lines of research to determine how quantum technologies could represent an advantage over classical compute tools in a variety of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) use cases for airplane and automobile aerodynamic design.

Currently, CFD computations are extremely time-consuming and expensive to run. The simulation process is inefficient, and a lot of time is wasted trying to model air flow around wings and engines more efficiently. Boosting work around those designs could allow manufacturers to build more energy-efficient airplanes and lead to lowered carbon emissions for air travel therefore, having an enormous positive impact on the environment. Airplane transportation is overall responsible for 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. For airlines and plane manufacturers this could drive meaningful financial and environmental results all supported by new quantum technology.

Home to the KAUST Research and Technology Park (KRTP) where R&D centers, corporates and start-ups choose to locate themselves, the university has a track record of collaborating with industry partners at national and international levels to transfer research-based technology into the market to achieve public benefit.

We are delighted to be the catalyst for bringing quantum capabilities to CFD research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the Middle East, said Kevin Cullen, vice president of Innovation and Economic Development at KAUST. This partnership establishes Zapata as one of the first quantum computing companies active in the region and will enable KAUST researchers to explore the future of aerospace fluid dynamics. KAUST is a leader in the areas of data analysis and AI and we welcome the addition of Zapatas Orquestra technology to our capabilities, in order to accelerate discovery and innovation in these fields.

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Zapatas Orquestra platform improves data analytics performance, empowering companies and research organizations to build quantum-enabled workflows, execute them across the full range of quantum and classical devices, and then collect and analyze resulting data. With Orquestra, organizations can leverage quantum capabilities to generate augmented data sets, speed up data analysis, and construct better data models for a range of applications. Importantly, it provides organizations with the most flexible, applied toolset in quantum computing so that its users can build quantum capabilities without getting locked in with a single vendor or architecture in the next several years.

We are always looking to expand quantum computing use cases through Orquestra and our work with KAUST will give us a head start to explore new opportunities for more efficient CFD, said Christopher Savoie, co-founder and CEO, Zapata. The collaboration with KAUST will benefit the aerospace industry as a whole by using quantum to bring efficiency to what has historically been a slow and difficult process.

About Zapata Computing Zapata Computing, Inc. builds quantum-ready applications for enterprise deployment through our flagship product Orquestra the only workflow-based toolset for enterprise quantum computing. Zapata has pioneered a new quantum-classical development and deployment paradigm that focuses on a range of use cases, including ML, optimization and simulation. Orquestra integrates best-in-class classical and quantum technologies including Zapata's leading-edge algorithms, open-source libraries in Python and Julia, and more. Zapata partners closely with hardware providers across the quantum ecosystem such as Amazon, Google, Honeywell, IBM, IonQ, Microsoft and Rigetti. Investors include BASF Venture Capital, Honeywell Ventures, Itochu Corporation and Merck Global Health. Enterprise customers include Merck, BP, BBVA, KAUST and Coca Cola Bottlers Japan Inc., among others.

For more information visit http://www.ZapataComputing.com and http://www.Orquestra.io.

About KAUSTEstablished in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the worlds most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food, water, energy and the environment. With 19 research areas related to these themes and state of the art labs, KAUST has created a collaborative and interdisciplinary problem-solving environment, which has resulted in over 11,000 published papers to date.

With over 100 different nationalities living, working and studying on campus, KAUST has brought together the best minds and ideas from around the world with the goal of advancing science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research. KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. For additional information, visit: http://www.Kaust.edu.sa

Media Contact: Anya Nelson Scratch Marketing + Media for Zapata Computing anyan@scratchmm.com617.817.6559

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Zapata Computing and KAUST Partner to Bring Quantum Computing to the Middle East for the Advancement of Computational Fluid Dynamics - Yahoo Finance

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Quantum computers really do represent the future generation of computing. Cloud-based quantum computing is tougher to drag off than AI, therefore the ramp-up is going to be slower, and therefore the learning curve vessel attributable to the rather nebulous science behind it, a sensible, operating quantum computer remains a flight of fancy. Bits are the elemental computing units, however, they will store only two values 0 and 1. Developers use quantum computing to encrypt issues as qubits, that work out multiple mixtures of variables promptly instead of exploring every possibility discretely. The deployment of quantum circuits and therefore the support systems necessary for their operation could be an expensive and troublesome process. Among the scope of the analysis, firms that already use these systems modify cloud-based quantum computing via the platforms they build.

Many startups and technology giants, together with Microsoft, IBM, and Google, acknowledge the worth of creating progress during this field, as this is often so successive major step in technology and computing. Quantum computers area unit lightning-fast compared to a typical Windows 10 computer or a macOS computer that makes them even quicker than the foremost powerful supercomputers we have these days. Once users area unit allowed to access quantum physics-powered computers via the web, then its quantum computing within the cloud.

Rigetti computing could be a startup that has developed a quantum processor thats in operation and Computing 128 qubits. They recently declared a Quantum Cloud Service, that developed on its existing quantum computing within the Cloud programming toolkit. This service can bring each ancient and quantum computer along on one cloud platform to assist users to build applications exploitation the ability of qubit technology.

Bill Gates~ It isnt clear when it will work or become mainstream. There is a chance that within 610 years that cloud computing will offer super-computation by using quantum. It could help use solve some very important science problems including materials and catalyst design.

It will create a distinction in several areas with enhancements in implementation and error correction. This new technology can reach a useful purpose with the participation of a lot of individuals and their collaboration. Cloud-based quantum computing offers an immediate interface to quantum circuits and quantum chips sanctioning final testing of quantum algorithms and provides how that allows individuals to create enhancements in quantum computing. Businesses and other domains will apply by exploitation QC on the cloud and dont ought to look forward to quantum computing technology being mature and widespread.

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What is cloud-based quantum computing and How does it work? - Medium

A Quantum physicist is revealing that while quantum computers pose no risk to Bitcoin mining, they threaten the algorithms that keep Bitcoin and the internet secure.

In a recent video, Anastasia Marchenkova argues Bitcoin has a built-in design that protects it against entities using quantum algorithms to mine BTC at a rapid rate.

Lets say one day we actually did discover a quantum algorithm that could solve this faster. Bitcoin is designed to adjust the difficulty if we mine blocks too fast. So even if we found this quantum algorithm, the difficulty would just get harder.

However, the quantum physicist warns that quantum computing poses a serious risk to cryptographic algorithms which keep cryptocurrencies and the internet at large secure.

Theres two common cryptosystems RSA and elliptic curve encryption and these are affected by quantum computers. When youre online, information that you send is encrypted, often with these two. Both of these are vulnerable to attacks by quantum computers which means a large enough quantum computer will be a problem for anyone online

There actually is a quantum algorithm to break RSA and elliptic curve encryption. Bitcoin does use elliptic curve encryption (ECC) to generate the public key, which is created from the private key which authorizes transactions

That means that someone with a large enough and coherent enough quantum computer, with coherence meaning the length of time the quantum information can be stored, can actually get your private key from your public key and thats a very serious problem That private key can then be used to authorize transactions that the owner doesnt want to have happen. So as quantum computers become better and better, the security of RSA and elliptic curve is no longer effective.

Crypto sleuths continue to track the advancement of quantum machines. They have the capability to crack complex mathematical problems using quantum bits, or quibits, which can maintain a superimposition by being in two states at the same time.

While the future of cryptocurrencies may be threatened, Marchenkova says digital assets can adopt developments that can effectively resist quantum-based attacks.

So well need to pick an algorithm that can actually stand up to quantum attacks. We call this post-quantum cryptography which are classical algorithms not based on quantum principles that can stand up to quantum computing attacks. One of the current leading candidates is lattice-based cryptography

Another approach is using asymmetric cryptography like AES (advanced encryption standard) which is weakened by quantum computers but not broken in such a manner like RSA and elliptic curve

There are also other coins already using hash-based cryptography. And so far, like I mentioned, hash-based cryptosystems actually resist quantum computing attacks. We dont know if thats going to hold true forever but so far that seems to be the case.

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Will Quantum Computers Break Bitcoin and the Internet? Heres the Outlook From Quantum Physicist Anastasia Marchenkova - The Daily Hodl