The Week in Quantum Computing - May 17th
Issue #36
The Week in Quantum Computing. Brought to you by Sergio Gago (@piratecto) and The Quantum World Association.
Do you like this Newsletter? Like, share and subscribe! :) (or do the three things in superposition :) ).
Quick Recap
40 years ago, quantum computing started. This week we have observed entanglement, improved the fidelity of 2 qubit gates and realized breakthroughs in room temperature qubits. If that is not enough: Arqit announces SPAC for quantum in space, AgnostiQ secures $2,4M CAD, Germany launches €2B quantum fund through 2025 to build their own computer, Qnami closes 4M CHF and Quantum Delta NL launches lightspeed to invest up to 13,6B. Bessemer to lead $100M round for Xanadu. Shenzhen R&D center to invest $108B over 5y including quantum.
There it goes. In one week almost more investment commited than the last quarter of last year. Now go and spend it wisely!
The Quote of the Week
"A two-dimensional quantum system with anyonic excitations can be considered as a quantum computer."
Alexei Kitaev - Ronald and Maxine Linde Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics at Caltech , permanent member of Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics , proposer of the concept of topological quantum computer.
Featured Content
Quantum Definitions by @quantumfyed
The Summary of the Week
How a 1981 conference kickstarted today’s quantum computing era
Forty years ago, IBM researcher Charlie Bennett helped usher in the study of quantum mechanics’ impact on computing. IBM is still at it—and so is Bennett.
Link: https://ift.tt/3etQ0wB
May 08, 2021 at 09:33PM
Quantum Entanglement Has Now Been Directly Observed at a Larger Macroscopic Scale
Quantum entanglement is the binding together of two particles or objects, even though they may be far apart – their respective properties are linked in a way that's not possible under the rules of classical physics.
Link: https://ift.tt/3f1YPN2
May 08, 2021 at 09:33PM
Chinese team designs quantum computer with world's largest number of superconducting qubits
A Chinese research team has successfully designed a prototype 62-qubit programmable superconducting quantum computer, naming it "Zu Chongzhi" after the noted 5th century Chinese mathematician and astronomer.
Link: https://ift.tt/3etjdYu
May 09, 2021 at 02:34PM
China’s tech hub Shenzhen to invest US$108 billion in R&D over 5 years
Money will be used to support innovation in core technologies, city’s Communist Party chief Wang Weizhong says.
Link: https://ift.tt/3ere431
May 09, 2021 at 08:34PM
U.S. venture giant Bessemer set to lead US$100-million funding of Toronto quantum computing upstart Xanadu, sources say
U.S. venture capital giant Bessemer Venture Partners has signed on to lead a US$100-million funding of Toronto startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., as competition intensifies in a global race to bring quantum computers to market.
Link: https://ift.tt/3f93IUw
May 10, 2021 at 06:33PM
Why AWS Could Own the Future of Quantum Computing
Without any of its own hardware and most of its software heavy-lifting dedicated to front-end development, security, and broader AWS systems integration, the cloud giant could own the quantum computing user base. The reasons are simple, even if the business could get complicated.
Link: https://ift.tt/3vObfii
May 10, 2021 at 07:33PM
Quantum Delta NL launches LightSpeed to tap into 13.6 billion investment potential
Quantum Delta NL launches LightSpeed, a program that can connect Dutch quantum startups with 13.6 billion in investment capital, managed by European and U.S. funds.
Link: https://ift.tt/3uEDW17
May 11, 2021 at 05:33PM
Qnami closes 4.0M CHF Series A round
Qnami announced today the closing of a 4.0M CHF (4.4M USD) Series A financing round led by Venture Capital funds Runa Capital and SIT Capital, further supported by Seed Round investors Quantonation, Verve Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank and the High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Link: https://ift.tt/3bkHtKb
May 11, 2021 at 08:34PM
via Pocket https://qnami.ch/qnami-closes-4-0m-chf-series-a-round/
The widely anticipated quantum internet breakthrough is finally here
If you thought quantum computing was a leap forward, get ready for the next step: the quantum internet, where quantum machines can be linked to each other to create powerful networks of superfast computing power. The vision is now even closer to becoming reality.
Link: https://ift.tt/33AnYJA
May 11, 2021 at 09:33PM
via Pocket https://sifted.eu/articles/quantum-internet-breakthrough/
IBM Quantum Delivers 120x Speedup of Quantum Workloads With Qiskit Runtime
Last fall, we made the ambitious promise to demonstrate a 100x speedup of quantum workloads in our IBM Quantum roadmap for scaling quantum technology. Today, we're pleased to announce that we didn't just meet that goal; we beat it.
Link: https://ift.tt/2R8QCP6
May 11, 2021 at 09:33PM
via Pocket https://research.ibm.com/blog/120x-quantum-speedup
Germany Launches €2B, 5-year Quantum Development Push
Germany plans to invest roughly €2 billion euros (US$2.4B) through 2025 on R&D for its first quantum computer and support technologies, the German economy and science ministries said today, according to a story published today by Reuters.
Link: https://ift.tt/3feefOi
May 12, 2021 at 12:33PM
via Pocket https://insidehpc.com/2021/05/germany-launches-e2b-5-year-quantum-development-push/
Paper: qRobot: A Quantum computing approach in mobile robot order picking and batching problem solver optimization
This article aims to bring quantum computing to robotics. A quantum algorithm is developed to minimize the distance travelled in warehouses and distribution centres where order picking is applied. For this, a proof of concept is proposed through a Raspberry Pi 4, generating a quantum combinatorial optimization algorithm that saves the distance travelled and the batch of orders to be made. In case of computational need, the robot will be able to parallelize part of the operations in hybrid computing (quantum + classical), accessing CPUs and QPUs distributed in a public or private cloud. Before this, we must develop a stable environment (ARM64) inside the robot (Raspberry) to run gradient operations and other quantum algorithms on IBMQ, Amazon Braket, D'wave and Pennylane locally or remotely. The proof of concept will run in such quantum environments above.
Link: https://ift.tt/3vVyTJG
May 12, 2021 at 06:33PM
via Pocket https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.04865v1
Intel says it has solved a key bottleneck in quantum computing
Intel just took a significant step toward making quantum computing more practical. The company and QuTech say they've demonstrated the first instance of high-fidelity two-qubit control using its Horse Ridge cryogenic control processor.
Link: https://ift.tt/33Hrtxy
May 12, 2021 at 10:33PM
Breakthrough for room temperature optical quantum computing
"The quantum photonics approach offers a natural link between communication and computation," said Val Zwiller, Professor at KTH. "That's important, since the end goal is to transmit the processed quantum information using light.
Link: https://ift.tt/3huHi2K
May 13, 2021 at 12:33PM
Quantum machine learning hits a limit
"Our theorem implies that we are not going to be able to use quantum machine learning to learn typical random or chaotic processes, such as black holes.
Link: https://ift.tt/3yau2Xh
May 13, 2021 at 09:33PM
Agnostiq secures $2.4 million CAD to accelerate development of quantum computing software
Toronto-based software startup Agnostiq has raised a $2.4 million CAD ($2 million USD) seed round to bolster its quantum computing platform.
Link: https://ift.tt/3yb0PLw
May 14, 2021 at 08:33AM
Quantum SPAC in Space: Arqit Limited to Raise $400 Million Through SPAC Deal
UK-based Arqit Limited (“Arqit”), a leader in quantum encryption technology, will become the second quantum startup to become publicly listed via a special purpose acquisition company, following an agreement with Centricus Acquisition Corp, according to a company statement.
Link: https://ift.tt/3hDUhj5
May 14, 2021 at 04:33PM