News Brief

A native quantum program for a photonic processor will be much different from a native gate-based program written for superconducting, ion trap, or other quantum modalities. On the other hand, there is already an extensive code back of quantum code that has been written in Qiskit and one other gate-based programming platforms that might benefit from being able to run on a photonic processor. Photonic technology may have some advantages over the other modes because these processors can run at room temperature and are less effected by the external environment which can harm the quality of the calculations. In order to [...]

IonQ is looking to expand its geographical reach and has formed IonQ GmbH in Germany and IonQ Israel LTD in Israel in order to better support their commercial partners in Europe and Israel. Establishment of the subsidiaries will also help to embed IonQ within the European and Israeli quantum ecosystem. Noam Zakay, formerly the Program Director of IBM Quantum Europe, will be responsible for business development and sales of these subsidiaries. Additional information is available in a news release posted on the IonQ website here. July 24, 2022

Atlantic Quantum is a spinout from the Engineering Quantum Systems (EQuS) group at MIT formed in early 2022. They are developing a scalable, fault tolerant quantum processor using superconducting technology. They assert that they have a superior approach for superconducting qubits because they are using a new type of noise-protected qubit that will improve coherence times by an order of magnitude along with a control scheme that will make scaling easier. Their seed round funding was led by The Engine with additional participation from Thomas Tull, Glasswing Ventures, Future Labs Capital, and E14. The company will use the funds to expand their technical teams in [...]

BosonQ Psi is a company founded in India in 2020 that provides quantum powered cloud simulation software called BQPhy for enterprise customers in areas such as structural mechanics, thermal analysis, design optimization, fluid mechanics, acoustics analysis, electrochemistry analysis, electromagnetics analysis, multiphysics simulations, and digital twin simulations. The funding round was led by 3TO1 Capital with additional participation from India and US-based angel investors. The company has produced a prototype of their BQPhy software and plans on using the funds to further develop the software and release alpha and beta versions later in 2022. A press release announcing the pre-seed funding is [...]

Mastercard is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York with over 24,000 employees and 2021 revenues exceeding $18.8 billion. They have a mission to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. And one of the tools they use to do this is to leverage advanced technology as much as possible to fulfill their mission. They have reached a multi-year strategic alliance agreement with D-Wave to explore the adoption of quantum computing solutions in their business. Some of the problems they will be working on may include [...]

As originally announced earlier this year, D-Wave intends on becoming a public company through the execution of a merger with DPCM, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). After the filing of an S-4 registration form that provides details of the business combination with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the form is reviewed by the SEC and deemed "Effective" if no issues are found. And this is what occurred earlier this week. The next step will be a shareholders vote which is now scheduled for August 2, 2022. Assuming the shareholders vote "FOR" the business combination, the merger will be [...]

Infineon ion trap on chip carrier. Copyright Infineon. While most of the companies pursuing trapped ion quantum processors that use lasers to control the qubits, Oxford Ionics is taking a different approach and using microwaves to control the gate operation. Their thinking it that using microwave control is easier to scale than multiple lasers while retaining the high gate fidelity levels inherent in ion trapped qubits. It also makes the processor chip more amenable to being built with semiconductor fabrication processes, which is where Infineon Technologies can help. By leveraging Infineon's precision semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, they can create qubits which are [...]

Toyota Tsusho is a member of the Toyota Group, but they are involved in many more industries than just automobiles. The company operates in about 130 countries and has over 65,000. Major businesses include Metals, Global Parts & Logistics, Automotive, Machinery, Energy & Project, Chemicals & Electronics, Food & Consumer Services, and Africa. With such a wide portfolio they have many business that may be able to take advantage of quantum computing in the future. Quantum Machines partnership with them will enable Toyota Tsusho's customers to build quantum capabilities and integrate quantum technology into their operation. As part of this partnership, [...]

Quix new investors include PhotonDelta, FORWARD.one and Oost NL and the funding will be used for further development of Quix's quantum photonic processor chips. They recent delivered a 20 qumode chip to the European project PHOQUSING and are currently working on having a full 20 qumode processor by early 2023. After that they plan on developing a 50 qumode processor. Quix' photonic technology has very low optical losses and runs at room temperature, unlike other technologies that require expensive cryocoolers for low temperature operation. You can view Quix new release announcing this funding on their website here. July 7, 2022

Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) has raised this investment fund from Lansdowne Partners, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), British Patient Capital and existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) and Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC). It is the largest Series A fund raise for any UK quantum company. The company will be using the funding to scale up its quantum processors and to expand internationally in the Asia-Pacific region. The company's processors are based upon superconducting technology, but a distinguishing innovation is something they call Coaxmon. Coaxmon implements three dimensional circuits that can allows them to move control circuity off of [...]