The Week in Quantum Computing - October 11th
Issue #57
The Week in Quantum Computing. Brought to you by Sergio Gago (@piratecto). Sponsored by The Quantum World Association and Qapitan Quantum.
Do you like this Newsletter? Like, share and subscribe! :) (or do the three things in superposition :) ).
Quick Recap
As we say in Spanish: “Que la fiesta no pare”. Dwave goes superconductor. Rigetti announces her own SPAC. DHS announces their roadmap for post-quantum crypto,
Ah, and all the amazing materials for the 2021 Qiksit Quantum Machine Learning course are published. Recommended for everyone.
I could try to summarize this week in detail, but no one will do better than the one and only Andre M. König from OneQuantum.
Now that we all had a chance to sleep on it we realize that no, it's not a dream: Rigetti Computing is joining the SPAC crowd and announced their intention of going public. Congratulations!
🔝 They announced that they will be sitting on $458M in cash upon closing the deal. Wow, that is a lot of money.
A week ago we had IonQ spearheading that movement in a historic opening bell ceremony at NYSE - and they collected $636M in cash.
Honeywell & Cambridge Quantum, while not a SPAC, is said to be adding $300M in cash through their private placement deal.
That is a combined $1.4B of cash this year alone from 3 companies. And I believe there will be at least 2 more deals of similar size by year's end.
💰 In a typical SPAC the sponsors (i.e. SPAC vehicle, CEO, founders) make a 20% cut. On top of that they can buy warrants at a discount, and often do so. 30% total would not be a wild guess.
Imagine these companies also retain 20% for R&D and another 20% for biz dev, and invest the rest into M&A because face it, we all need more & better talent, teams, technology, products, software, clouds & hardware
🛫 Within #QuantumComputing we count 373 companies globally that do either hardware or software. Strip out the large OEMs, a few markets that geopolitically are sensitive, and you are left with about 250 as potential acquisition targets... I am being intentionally generous here, in reality the universe of viable targets is MUCH smaller.
🧮 That would offer a budget of $2,240,000 for each of these 250 ventures. Does that seem high or low to you?
If like me you believe there will be more deals this year, let's say another $1B, that makes for an average acquisition offer of $6,240,000 for every single #quantum computing startup out there.
Add yet another $1B, which is what VCs spent last year, and now we are at $10,240,000 for every startup in the quantum computing universe.
⚠️ How does that seem to you?
So who are the winners in these deals? The technology? The customers? The employees? The founders? The investors?
Of course this is a very simplistic back of the envelop calculation but I hope it illustrates the scale of the capital (huge) that is flooding a (tiny) market - on top of billions in government money, mostly well spent on basic science and research - and makes you think about what the potential implications are.
The Quote of the Week
"You would think that all of the issues surrounding addition and multiplication were sewed up in third grade!" Carl Pomerance - number theorist. John G. Kemeny Parents Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College.
The Summary of the Week
Kitty Q teaches children about quantum mechanics, kitchen physics experiments, Emmy Noether takes on Baron Munchausen – Physics World
Some parents would probably baulk at the idea of teaching their 11-year-old about quantum mechanics, but here at Physics World we believe that it’s never too early to ponder the weirdness of the quantum world.
Link: https://ift.tt/3uv0wK8
October 03, 2021 at 05:30PM
Swedish quantum leaders choose Qblox for a 20-qubit quantum computer control stack
Qblox Cluster control stack is the go-to choice for the new 20-qubit quantum computer to put Sweden at the forefront of quantum technology. The Qblox fully-integrated control stack comprises dedicated and modular electronics developed in Delft, The Netherlands.
Link: https://ift.tt/3a1oUK2
October 04, 2021 at 11:30AM
Physicists Create New Technique To Control Qubits – The Building Blocks of Quantum Computing
A research team that includes two University of Oregon physicists has outlined new techniques for controlling the building blocks of quantum computing, a potentially significant step toward making such computers more accurate and useful.
Link: https://ift.tt/3A7VKDR
October 04, 2021 at 01:30PM
Implementing a 46-node quantum metropolitan area network
The topological structure of our quantum network. The network mainly comprises three subnetworks that are directly connected to each other.
Link: https://ift.tt/3omVPRQ
October 04, 2021 at 06:30PM
Verifying BQP Computations on Noisy Devices with Minimal Overhead
Recent advances in quantum computing suggest that most machines will be accessed remotely and computations will be delegated to service providers. In such a setting, the confidentiality of the data and the code, as well as the integrity of the computation cannot be guaranteed a priori.
Link: https://ift.tt/3Ab9AoV
October 05, 2021 at 08:30AM
Exploring quantum error mitigation with Mitiq and Amazon Braket
¡By Ryan LaRose, a researcher with Unitary Fund and Michigan State University; Nathan Shammah, CTO of Unitary Fund; Peter Karalekas, Software Engineer at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing; and Eric Kessler, Sr. Manager of Applied Science for Amazon Braket.
Link: https://ift.tt/3a4MwNU
October 05, 2021 at 08:30AM
A team from Bristol’s Quantum Engineering labs has shown how to protect qubits from errors using photons in a silicon chip.
A team of researchers from Bristol's Quantum Engineering and Technology Labs (QETLabs) has shown how to protect qubits from errors using photons in a silicon chip. Quantum computers are gaining pace. They promise to provide exponentially more computing power for certain very tricky problems.
Link: https://ift.tt/39UK3W5
October 05, 2021 at 03:30PM
D-Wave plans to build a gate-model quantum computer
For more than 20 years, D-Wave has been synonymous with quantum annealing. Its early bet on this technology allowed it to become the world’s first company to sell quantum computers, but that also somewhat limited the real-world problems its hardware could solve, given that quantum annealing works especially well for optimization problems like protein folding or route planning. But as the company announced at its Qubits conference today, a superconducting gate-model quantum computer — of the kind IBM and others currently offer — is now also on its roadmap.
Link: https://ift.tt/3AeqSl5
October 05, 2021 at 06:30PM
2021 Qiskit Global Summer School on Quantum Machine Learning
The Qiskit Global Summer School 2021 coursework, lab, and lecture materials are available online. Python is a programming language where you don't need to compile. You can just run it line by line...
Link: https://ift.tt/3oICYk2
October 05, 2021 at 10:30PM
DHS releases roadmap to post-quantum cryptography
The Department of Homeland Security wants agencies to protect their data and systems from advancements in quantum computing, likely to break some widely used encryption methods, using a roadmap released Monday.
Link: https://ift.tt/3A9uJ2S
October 06, 2021 at 09:30AM
BT and Toshiba to build world's first commercial quantum-secured metro network across London
BT Group is the UK’s leading telecommunications and network provider and a leading provider of global communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries.
Link: https://ift.tt/3BhXzzi
October 06, 2021 at 11:30AM
IBM Quantum’s fall challenge explores industry applications in quantum computing
Registration for IBM Quantum Challenge Fall 2021 is now open! Join us on a 10-day challenge to learn about the industry applications of quantum computing.
Link: https://ift.tt/3BqOCUA
October 07, 2021 at 07:30AM
Rigetti Announces SPAC Deal with Supernova II
BERKELEY, Calif. — Oct. 6, 2021 — Rigetti & Co., Inc. (“Rigetti”), a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing, announced today it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II, Ltd.
Link: https://ift.tt/3oxlozE
October 07, 2021 at 08:30AM
DARPA Seeks Quantum-Based Defense Optimization System
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking proposals for a potential $58 million program aimed at developing hybrid systems for the Department of Defense to overcome optimization problems that could affect mission capabilities.
Link: https://ift.tt/2ZTpqIa
October 07, 2021 at 03:30PM
Top 10 Quantum Computing Workshop and Conferences to Attend in 2021
As you know, quantum computing is a type of computation that harnesses the collective properties of quantum states, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement, to perform calculations.
Link: https://ift.tt/3oI2B4A
October 07, 2021 at 10:30PM
Quantum computing startups rake in millions as VCs rush to get ahead of the game
Venture capital firms are pouring billions into quantum computing companies, hedging bets that the technology will pay off big time some day. Rigetti, which makes quantum hardware, announced a $1.
Link: https://ift.tt/3FshPAF
October 09, 2021 at 02:30PM