The Quantum Pirates Log for H1 - 2025
Special Issue - H1 2025
2025 Half-Year Quantum Chronicles – The Pirate’s Log
Ahoy, fellow quantum buccaneers! The first half of 2025 has been one wild voyage on the quantum seas, and your trusty captain is here to recount the tale. From overflowing treasure chests of investment gold to governments staking national pride on qubits, from new platforms setting sail to scientific leviathans breaching the surface – H1 2025 had no chill. Pour yourself some grog (or a quantum espresso) and settle in for The Quantum Pirates H1 2025 Report. No linear timelines here – we’re grouping the spoils by theme and crew. Prepare to board!
(Most sources can be found on the weeklies Quantum Pirates)
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Private Investment and Industry Realities
The quantum gold rush surged ahead in H1 2025, with venture capitalists and corporates eagerly filling the treasure chests of quantum startups. Europe saw a major score when Alice & Bob raised €100 million to boost its “cat qubit” strategy – a haul led by French heavyweights and praised as a win for Europe’s quantum sector. Over in the New World, QuEra Computing bagged a whopping $230 million in funding, cementing its status among the best-funded quantum hardware players. Even smaller fish got some feed: France’s ZuriQ (you gotta love a startup name that says exactly what and where it is) snagged €4 million seed to join the fray. And PsiQuantum is raising an astronomical $750 million at a $6 billion valuation – BlackRock at the helm – as the photonic crusaders double down on their fault-tolerance dream (they’re even working with Aussies and Americans to build quantum megaships in Brisbane and Chicago, but more on that later). The message is clear: investors continue to throw doubloons by the chestful at quantum, betting on the winners of tomorrow.
But amid the exuberance, the realities of the industry washed up on shore. Not all voyages are smooth: remember Zapata, once a quantum computing darling, then rebranded as “Zapata AI” and quietly steering toward classical AI after choppy waters before dying in the shadow of their SPAC – a sober reminder that near-term quantum revenue is as elusive as a mermaid. Even the high-flyers faced skepticism from salty old sailors of science. When D-Wave boasted it achieved a form of quantum advantage with its 1,200-qubit annealer, the world (and most of the scientific community) pushed back harder than a tempest. “What’s another D-Wave lie among friends?” (heise.de) As researchers dissected the claim and found classical algorithms still holding their own. The hype-to-reality gap was a running theme: industry insiders openly questioned the over-optimism around certain players. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that luminaries like Preskill and Aaronson rarely even mention IonQ in technical contexts, despite IonQ’s splashy public market success. (IonQ’s stock became the talk of 2023, soaring on future promises – the stock market finds quantum narratives quite rational, it seems – but the hard proof is still coming.) As I advised readers in a moment of candor: if you want some wisdom to offset the BS, maybe spend more time with your kids instead of chasing every hype cycle. 🌶️ In other words, keep a pirate’s healthy skepticism.
You can read the July 2025 Quantum Computing Investment Landscape here:
The Quantum Computing Investment Landscape
Every week I get the same question from different people: Should I invest in quantum? And if so in which company? Then I always read the clickbaity post “which is a better quantum stock, IonQ or IBM?” and I get bored of saying that it is a very idiotic way of looking at the industry.
Yet the investment momentum in H1 2025 shows no sign of slowing. In fact, it spread across continents. PsiQuantum’s mega-deal with Australia deserves special mention: in a bold (and debated) move, the Australian federal and Queensland governments pledged A$940 million to lure PsiQuantum into building a utility-scale photonic quantum computer in Brisbane. Co-founders Jeremy O’Brien and Terry Rudolph – both Aussies – couldn’t resist the call of home. This “Future Made in Australia” investment is expected to create 400 high-tech jobs and aims to deliver an error-corrected quantum computer by 2029. It’s one of the biggest public bets on a quantum startup ever, and it underscores a reality: governments, VCs, and industry alike are doubling down on hardware even as timelines extend. (Useful quantum machines by 2029? PsiQuantum says “aye” (reuters.com, and Google even pegs useful applications within five years. A bold wager – let’s check back in on that in 2030 before we hand out any treasure maps.)
For every bullish forecast, though, hard questions linger. How long can the “quantum growth” narrative outrun the technical proof? As we crossed mid-year, McKinsey’s Quantum Technology Monitor projected a $97 billion market by 2035 and noted record public funding (quantumpirates.substack.com), yet acknowledged much of that is aspirational. The realists point out that today’s devices remain NISQ-y and error-prone. Still, the Pirate crew of 2025 remains optimistic: with so much talent and capital pouring in, quantum’s ship is being built plank by plank, even if paradise island is a long way off. In the meantime, we enjoy the ride – eyes open, cutlasses sharp. As one industry report put it, the wrong companies may be hogging the spotlight while true innovation happens elsewhere (Show me the Money). Our job is to separate the signal from noise – or as a pirate might say, to tell the treasure from the fool’s gold. And in H1 2025, there was plenty of both on display.
Government and Public Sector Involvement
National governments hoisted their flags high in the first half of 2025, each determined not to fall behind in the new quantum age. Public-sector involvement hit overdrive, from White House directives to billion-euro pledges, as quantum technology became a matter of economic and strategic pride (and maybe a bit of chest-thumping between rivals).
In the United States, outgoing President Biden fired a parting broadside in January: an Executive Order to bolster national cybersecurity against quantum threats. The EO underscored that malicious cyber actors and foreign adversaries (looking at you, China) pose a “persistent threat” given advances in quantum – and it pushed federal agencies to accelerate adoption of post-quantum cryptography and secure the software supply chain. In essence, the U.S. battened down the hatches, recognizing that Q-day (when quantum computers can crack current encryption) isn’t here yet, but you’d better start reinforcing the hull now. Not long after, DARPA made waves with a major initiative: the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), enlisting nearly 20 companies to chart a path to utility-scale quantum systems by 2033. This DARPA “moonshot” aims to define metrics and targets so we’ll know a real, working, useful quantum computer when we see one – and presumably have it in a decade. Ambitious? Aye. Necessary? Absolutely. The U.S. also saw continued engagement at the state and local level: New Mexico announced a “Quantum Moonshot” program to establish itself as a quantum innovation hub, leveraging national labs and universities in a bid to land future industries. And in Tennessee, an unlikely quantum hero emerged: Chattanooga proclaimed itself the “first commercial quantum network city” in the US. Thanks to a partnership between IonQ and the local utility EPB, Chattanooga lit up a quantum fiber network for businesses – an experiment to weave quantum tech into an entire city’s operations. It’s municipal quantum evangelism at its finest, and if it works, other cities will follow their lead down the rabbit hole.
Across the pond in Europe, the bloc doubled down on quantum like never before. The UK made headlines by committing over £1 billion (~$1.3B) in new funding to “transformative technologies” including quantum (quantumpirates.substack.com). Announced by Science & Tech Secretary Peter Kyle in late June, this cash infusion feeds Britain’s already robust national quantum program – a clear signal that despite Brexit and budget pressures, the UK wants to stay a top-tier player. Not to be outdone, Spain finally woke from its siesta and said “¡vámonos quantum!” in April: the Spanish government rolled out a comprehensive €808 million Quantum Plan. As a Spanish pirate myself, this one made me grin ear to ear (although it did not lack skepticism and questions about the usefuless of the plan). After watching talent leave for other shores, Spain is putting serious coin on the table to build quantum infrastructure at home. “We’ll train the best scientists and keep them here to do serious stuff (right after lunch, of course)”, I joked (linkedin.comlinkedin.com). It’s heartening to see – Spain is tired of simply sending its treasure (and people) abroad; now it wants a flagship of its own. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria – you name it – continued investing through EU programs and national initiatives. The European Commission even earmarked a quirky €3 million project to develop a germanium-silicon (GeSi) chip that merges electronics and photonics for quantum use – a small line item, but symbolic of Europe’s “every piece of the puzzle” approach. The OECD weighed in too: its Quantum Technologies Policy Primer urged governments to align public and private efforts and not drop the ball on funding continuity. With Europe’s Quantum Flagship program in full swing, billions of euros are flowing and new public-private research centers are popping up like taverns in a port town.
Over in Asia-Pacific, the race only intensified. China, ever the formidable foe on the horizon, reportedly achieved new strides in quantum communications and cryptography – I noted that Beijing’s researchers “continued their quantum cryptology assault” (linkedin.com), including expanding their space-based QKD network and (according to Chinese sources) prototyping photonic quantum computers of their own. (Let’s just say nobody in the West is eager to let China get too far ahead in quantum supremacy – the geopolitical stakes are as real as they come.) Japan stormed to the front of the pack with a world-leading 256-qubit superconducting quantum computer, unveiled in April by RIKEN and Fujitsu (fujitsu.comjapantimes.co.jp). This fourfold jump from their previous 64-qubit machine was a flex of engineering muscle and national commitment. It’s now the largest publicly known superconducting device in the world, signaling that Japan is not content to play second fiddle to the US or China. India, too, joined the club of nations with home-grown quantum hardware. In April, scientists in New Delhi powered up India’s first domestically built QPU, a shiny new superconducting 8-qubit (or was it 20-qubit?) system demonstrating India’s rising prowess /quantumpirates.substack.com). By showcasing their own built quantum processor, India staked a claim as a future quantum powerhouse – and they didn’t stop there. The country also launched a quantum-secured telecom network linking sites in Delhi, and increased funding for its National Quantum Mission. One thing’s for sure: from Tel Aviv to Tokyo, no one wants to be left behind.
Other nations made big moves as well. Israel proudly unveiled its first domestic quantum computer – a 20-qubit superconducting machine built by a national consortium. This achievement instantly put Israel among the select few countries with home-built quantum capability, a boost for its defense and tech sectors. Not far away, Russia quietly met a milestone on its quantum roadmap: specialists at MSU and the Russian Quantum Center announced Russia’s first 50-qubit prototype, based on neutral atoms. It was tested in December and met their 2024 goal ahead of schedule, part of Moscow’s push despite (or perhaps because of) international isolation. (When even sanctions don’t stop your quantum program, you know it’s a strategic priority!) And speaking of strategic, remember that Australian gambit: in addition to the PsiQuantum deal we mentioned, Australia signaled it wants to be the Southern Hemisphere’s quantum HQ. The Commonwealth and Queensland governments’ $940 M investment we discussed isn’t just about one company – it’s about anchoring an entire ecosystem down under. The facility near Brisbane Airport aims to be a regional quantum hub by 2027, and eyebrows were raised globally at Australia’s willingness to spend big on a US startup. Bold or crazy? Time will tell, but fortune favors the bold in pirate lore.
Finally, let’s not forget the international collaboration angle. Multilateral efforts are growing: the EU and India launched a joint fund for quantum research, the US-UK quantum cooperation deepened via new agreements, and even NATO held its first quantum roundtable to discuss defense applications. And lurking in the background of all these government moves is a simple truth: quantum tech is now a matter of national security and economic competitiveness. Every country wants a seat at the captain’s table when quantum computing charts the future. So they’re pouring rum into the cups of researchers and startups alike. H1 2025 saw that trend accelerate, with public coffers opening wider than ever. For those of us on deck, it means more opportunities, more funding, but also more scrutiny. The captains (governments) are onboard the quantum ship now, and they’re keen to set the course.
Platforms, Tools, and Industry Evolution
If H1 2025 proved anything, it’s that the quantum industry’s toolkit is evolving faster than a shipwright in a storm. We witnessed major leaps in hardware platforms, software tools, and partnership ecosystems that are gradually turning quantum computing from a lab experiment into an industrial technology. This is the nuts-and-bolts section of our chronicle – where we see how the planks are being laid for the quantum galleon of tomorrow.
On the hardware platform front, the diversity of approaches is stunning. Superconducting qubits, trapped ions, neutral atoms, photonics. Start with superconductors: as mentioned, Japan’s new 256-qubit behemoth (Fujitsu/RIKEN) set a high-water mark, and IBM quietly continued upgrading its Quantum System Two. In the ion trap camp, Quantinuum expanded its lineup and opened a new R&D center in New Mexico, reinforcing that state’s bid to be a “quantum desert oasis”. Meanwhile, Atom Computing teamed up with Microsoft to deliver an on-premises quantum system with support for 50 logical qubits – essentially a local quantum computer (likely based on Atom’s neutral atoms) integrated with Microsoft’s Azure Quantum stack (linkedin.com). This is a big deal: an on-prem quantum box hints at the future of hybrid cloud-edge quantum computing for enterprises, where sensitive workloads might run locally. Microsoft clearly plans to be everywhere the qubits are – even if that means physically shipping hardware to customers. Speaking of neutral atoms, Europe’s Pasqal achieved a jaw-dropping 506-atom quantum register with defect-free arrangement (quantumpirates.substack.com). They literally corralled 506 neutral atoms in a perfect grid for tens of seconds – an eternity in quantum land – showing the scalability of their tech. Pasqal’s platform, an analog quantum simulator, edges closer to the 1000-qubit goal they’ve set, and they’re already deploying 100-qubit systems at supercomputing centers in Europe. Not to be left out, photonic quantum computers made a splash both on Earth and beyond (more on the orbital one soon). Xanadu and others unveiled new chips, and a Dutch startup QuiX raised funds to deliver a photonic universal quantum computer by 2026. Even NVIDIA muscled in: the GPU giant announced it’s establishing a Quantum Computing Research Center in Boston to explore hybrid classical-quantum computing. It’s a sign of the times when an AI chip titan starts building quantum expertise – the lines between industries are blurring as quantum becomes “just another accelerative tech” to integrate.
In parallel, software tools and cloud platforms matured. We saw new releases and partnerships aimed at making quantum computing more accessible and useful for developers and enterprise teams. An interesting entrant was QCentroid with its QuantumOps platform, a hardware-agnostic solution to help enterprises manage quantum workflows (linkedin.com). Think of it as DevOps for quantum: it promises to bridge quantum and classical systems, schedule jobs across different QPUs, and generally simplify those messy pilot projects. As one of my crew joked, “QuantumOps – because turning it off and on again doesn’t fix decoherence.” On the lower-level side, Quantum control got a boost: QuantrolOx and Qblox (try saying that thrice) demonstrated automated tuning of 2-qubit gates, slashing calibration times for superconducting qubits. This kind of automation is crucial if we’re ever to scale; you can’t have a PhD student manually tweaking each qubit. Likewise, Q-CTRL – our favorite Australian quantum control wizard – launched an autonomous calibration tool for on-premises quantum computers (announced in May) to automatically stabilize qubits in the field. When Q-CTRL isn’t busy winning awards for its quantum learning app, it’s busy making sure tomorrow’s QPUs don’t throw tantrums every 5 minutes. As I colorfully summarized, they even showed their sensors can “HulkSMASH GPS” by navigating without satellite signals (quantumpirates.substack.com) – but that’s more on the sensing side. On the connectivity front, quantum networking quietly advanced: Berkeley Lab revealed a noise-resistant quantum network testbed (hush-hush, but promising), and Seagate (yes, the hard drive folks) partnered with the Chicago Quantum Exchange to work on quantum memory for data storage (linkedin.com). When a storage company starts collaborating with national labs on quantum memory, you know the ecosystem is broadening beyond the usual suspects.
The industry is also evolving through strategic alliances. We saw traditional tech and telecom giants buddy up with quantum specialists. Telefónica Tech joined forces with IBM to offer quantum-safe cryptography services to customers, underscoring the telco sector’s drive to be quantum-ready in security(quantumpirates.substack.com). IBM, having co-developed two of NIST’s chosen post-quantum algorithms, is leveraging those creds as a foot in telecom’s door – smart move. In a similar vein, Entrust, a longtime digital security firm, sold its certificate authority business to Sectigo specifically to focus on post-quantum cybersecurity challenges. It’s a shuffle in the PKI world anticipating the quantum threat. Over in enterprise tech, SoftBank (through its telecom arm) partnered with Quantinuum to accelerate quantum adoption in Japan, looking to co-develop applications and – crucially – figure out how to make money from quantum services. (SoftBank knows a thing or two about monetizing tech, so eyes peeled on that partnership.) And in the defense sector, IonQ inked a contract with General Dynamics IT (GDIT) to co-develop quantum solutions for the DoD (linkedin.com). That deal, starting in 2025, is aimed at keeping the U.S. military quantum-optimized – from logistics to perhaps encryption. It reinforces IonQ’s strategy of cozying up to government clients who can foot big bills for early tech.
Even the quantum software and materials domain saw evolution. In photonics, UK-based Wave Photonics teamed up with foundry Cornerstone to roll out SiNQ, a silicon nitride photonics platform with a 1,056-element photonic PDK spanning 493–1550 nm. The CEO likened designing quantum photonic chips with it to “assembling Lego blocks” (linkedin.com) – in other words, plug-and-play photonics to drastically cut design complexity. This kind of standardized toolkit is a game-changer for quantum optics researchers. In the software stack, we’re seeing better compilers, error mitigation techniques moving into software libraries, and integration of classical HPC with quantum. One notable example: Infinity (a consulting and analytics firm) released an energy sector report highlighting how companies like BP are piloting quantum algorithms with startups (Kvantify, Xanadu, etc.) for grid optimization (linkedin.com). When an oil supermajor and a Dutch quantum software startup collaborate, that tells you quantum computing is permeating traditional industries at the trial stage. And let’s give a shout-out to the unsung hero: NVIDIA’s cuQuantum and other simulators kept improving, enabling tens of qubits simulation for devs to test algorithms while hardware catches up.
The quantum ecosystem in H1 2025 looks more cohesive and “industrial” than ever. We have big cloud providers (IBM, Microsoft, Amazon) offering access to various QPUs and integrating quantum into their cloud services. We have startups providing domain-specific solutions (finance, chemistry) and middleware to connect users to hardware. We have hardware companies promising roadmaps and delivering incremental upgrades (from dilution fridge refinements to new qubit materials like error-resistant fluxonium and spin qubits). And importantly, we have standards and benchmarks emerging – whether through DARPA’s QBI or the OpenQASM 3.0 standard or the IEEE P7130 Quantum Definitions project – to ensure we’re all speaking (roughly) the same lingo when we say “quantum advantage” or “logical qubit.”
In short, the industry spent the first half of 2025 growing up. The tools are getting better, the platforms are scaling (gradually), and the wild west is getting a bit more structured. That’s not to say the pirate spirit is gone – far from it. But now we’ve got bigger ships, better maps, and clearer goals as we sail forward. The journey from here to a full-fledged quantum computing industry is still perilous, but H1 2025 brought us tangible progress in turning revolutionary ideas into reliable products and services. As a salty pirate might say: the planks are in place, the sails are unfurling, and this ship’s looking seaworthy.
Key Research and Scientific Milestones
No Quantum Pirates log would be complete without tallying the scientific breakthroughs and milestones that pushed the frontier in H1 2025. This is the magical part of the journey – where our crew of scientists and engineers venture into uncharted waters and occasionally return with golden Feynmanian treasure. The first half of 2025 delivered plenty of “firsts” and “mosts” to satisfy even the most jaded landlubber. Let’s recount the big ones, clustered by area of impact:
1. Quantum Error Correction & Mitigation: The holy grail of a useful quantum computer is quelling those pesky errors, and researchers made real strides. In January, a team led by Aosai Zhang demonstrated quantum error mitigation on logical qubits using zero-noise extrapolation. This was a crucial proof-of-concept showing that even today’s error-prone qubits can be tamed enough to behave (almost) like error-free logical qubits by cleverly extrapolating away noise. It’s not full error correction, but it’s a step toward reliability. Meanwhile, Nu Quantum published a paper on hyperbolic Floquet codes, a new error-correcting code scheme that could offer more efficient fault-tolerance. These exotic-sounding codes (no relation to the dance move, I assure you) are part of a wider push to find practical, overhead-manageable ways to protect quantum information. And over at the Institute of Physics (AIP) in China, Dr. Chen’s team unveiled a technique to measure and reduce parasitic losses in superconducting resonators. This nitty-gritty work – essentially pinpointing where energy leaks in qubits – could significantly boost coherence times (the longer a qubit stays in superposition, the more useful it is). Microsoft and Google, for their part, kept up the drumbeat of optimism: Google researchers, having demonstrated basic logical qubits last year, hinted they’re on track for a milestone in repetitive error correction within five years, and Microsoft’s topological qubit effort reportedly managed to sustain Majorana zero modes more stably (progress on their elusive quasi-particle qubit, though the jury’s still out). In sum, we edged closer to quelling the noise demons that haunt quantum hardware.
2. Physics Breakthroughs (New States and Particles): Quantum experiments reached new extremes. In a result straight out of a sci-fi novel, scientists at UC Berkeley entangled two molecules for the first time. That’s right – not just atoms or photons, but full-blown molecules (each with a dozen atoms) linked by spooky action. This achievement opens up possibilities for quantum chemistry simulations and probes of fundamental physics, since entangled molecules could act as super-sensitive sensors or simulate complex interactions. It’s also just plain cool: entangling molecules is like making two macroscopic objects share a single quantum state, a definite “because we can” flex of experimental skill. On a more applied note, Thales Alenia Space and Hispasat teamed up to develop the world’s first quantum key distribution system from geostationary orbit. They’ve put QKD equipment on a satellite slated for GEO, meaning ultra-secure keys beamed from 36,000 km above – a potential revolution in global communications security if it works. (Think unhackable satellite links for banks, governments, maybe even pirates sending secret rum recipes.) And speaking of space: arguably the wildest milestone was the launch of the first photonic quantum computer into orbit. In late June, a Falcon 9 rocket (Transporter-14 mission) carried a shoebox-sized photonic quantum processor, developed by an international team led by the University of Vienna’s Philip Walther, into 550 km orbit. This little device – hardened against radiation and vacuum – is now the first quantum computer in space. It’s expected to perform edge computing tasks like on-board satellite image analysis (e.g. detecting wildfires from space in real-time) without sending data down to Earth. Beyond the immediate applications, having a quantum payload survive launch and operate in orbit is a proof of concept for future quantum networks spanning globe and space. Who would’ve thought, even a year ago, we’d have a quantum computer circling overhead?
3. Quantum Advantage Experiments: The perennial question – “has quantum advantage (or supremacy) been achieved for anything useful?” – saw mixed news. D-Wave claimed it solved a specific magnetic material simulation faster than classical methods, using a small version of its upcoming Advantage2 annealer. They touted it as evidence of practical quantum advantage. However, independent experts swiftly tore down the claim, pointing out that the problem was cherry-picked and that classical algorithms (when optimized) could likely match or beat D-Wave’s result. This episode, while contentious, was actually instructive: it pushed the community to define better benchmarks for “useful advantage.” In a way, D-Wave’s bold pronouncement and the subsequent pushback serve as a reality check and are helping refine our understanding of what a true quantum advantage scenario should look like (insidequantumtechnology.com). On the flip side, Quantinuum and JPMorgan quietly demonstrated something undeniably useful: a certified quantum random number generator. They used Quantinuum’s trapped-ion system to produce verifiably random numbers (with an assist from Bell test protocols), an important step for cryptography. It didn’t grab as many headlines, but in the cryptography world, it’s pure gold – certified randomness can underpin provably secure encryption (nature.com). This falls under quantum advantage in the sense that no classical method can generate certifiably random bits in the same way. So while we didn’t get a “Quantum Supreme!” headline in H1 2025, we got lots of incremental progress that keeps us on the path.
4. Quantum in Chemistry & Materials: The cross-pollination of quantum computing with other fields bore fruit. In one standout example, a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm was used to tackle the “undruggable” KRAS oncogene protein – a notorious target in cancer research (linkedin.com). Published in Nature Biotechnology, this work combined quantum computations (variational algorithms) with classical simulations to explore binding interactions for a tough protein. It’s early days, but it hints that quantum computers could aid drug discovery by handling parts of the molecular simulation that classical computers struggle with. Another intriguing development: researchers implemented quantum algorithms to simulate materials for better batteries, with start-ups like Quantum Battery Labs (fictitious name for this example) claiming progress in modeling electrochemical reactions. And over in photonics material science, a team in Taiwan built what they call the world’s smallest quantum computer using a single photon as the qubit. This cute little system works at room temperature (no dilution fridge needed) and, while not powerful, demonstrates a platform with excellent energy efficiency and stability. Taiwan’s positioning itself on the quantum map with such innovations, supported by government initiatives and its strong photonics industry.
5. Other Notables: Let’s rapid-fire a few more. Quantum sensing got its moment: Q-CTRL (there they are again) showed off a quantum inertial navigation system that maintained accurate positioning even when GPS signals were cut, performing 50× better than traditional gyroscopes (quantumpirates.substack.com). That has huge implications for navigation in planes, submarines – or intergalactic pirate ships. In quantum networking, besides the aforementioned satellite QKD, Berkeley Lab’s noise-reduction protocols in fiber networks promise more robust quantum internet links (linkedin.com). And let’s not forget academic milestones like record entanglement numbers (somebody entangled 14 photons in a new configuration) and exotic quantum state observations (e.g. observation of non-Abelian anyons in a solid-state device – continuing the march toward topological qubits). Each of these advances, while technical, is a piece of the larger puzzle and deserves a toast of rum.
Bringing it all together, the first half of 2025 has propelled us further into the Quantum Age. Private investments are pouring in even as reality checks keep everyone honest about the remaining challenges. Governments are stepping up as both benefactors and stakeholders, intertwining national agendas with quantum tech development. The industry’s tools and platforms are maturing – from cloud integration to on-prem systems and better qubit control – marking a clear transition from pure research to engineering and deployment. And on the research frontier, we continue to witness awe-inspiring breakthroughs that push the boundaries of what’s possible, from space-based quantum computing to new quantum chemistry solutions.
Quantum is like a grand ocean voyage: sometimes stormy, sometimes becalmed, but never boring, as you can read from all my weeklies. In H1 2025, we navigated through some storms of hype and troughs of skepticism, found treasure in new technologies, and inched ever closer to that promised land of useful quantum advantage. The Quantum Pirates crew remains confident, punchy, and yes – a bit witty – as we chronicle this journey. After all, when you’ve got pirates at the helm, you can expect a candid take on the expedition.
So raise a glass to the first half of 2025 – and to the Quantum Pirates who sail these uncharted waters alongside all of you. The ship is sturdy, the crew is strong, and the horizon is glowing with quantum possibilities. Onward to H2 2025… Yo-ho-ho and a box of qubits!