News Brief

Japan's second domestically-made superconducting quantum computer Japanese consortium including RIKEN, AIST, NICT, Osaka University, Fujitsu Limited, and NTT wins Prime Minister’s Award for developing high-performance computing platform with Japan's second domestically-made 64-qubit superconducting quantum computer. The platform, available on the cloud since October 2023, promotes commercial industrial research and development. Leveraging the technology from the first 64-qubit quantum computer released in March 2023, the group aims to advance quantum computing for various fields. Notably, RIKEN's superconducting quantum bit chip design shows scalability potential up to the 1,000-qubit level. The platform, recognized at the 53rd Japan Industrial Technology Awards, signifies a significant [...]

Equal1 inaugurates its new center of excellence in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, situated at the heart of Sherbrooke’s Quantum Innovation Zone. The center aims to cultivate talent in silicon spin qubits and promote collaborations with academic and industrial partners. It provides access to cutting-edge quantum measurement and fabrication facilities through the Quantum Technology Development Laboratory (DevTeQ). The proximity to Institut Quantique at the University of Sherbrooke, a leading quantum academic institution, offers opportunities for collaboration and access to highly qualified graduating students. Equal1's CEO, Jason Lynch, emphasizes the strategic importance of Sherbrooke's ecosystem for the company's future success. The opening of the [...]

IonQ, in collaboration with DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), has demonstrated the potential of quantum computing to optimize airport flight gate operations. By leveraging IonQ Aria, the research aimed to address challenges such as minimizing traveler transit time and aircraft idle time while increasing gate throughput. The study utilized logarithmic-linear encoding to execute flight-gate optimization algorithms, showcasing the feasibility of handling complex scenarios involving multiple variables. The results signify a significant advancement in quantum computing's applicability to real-world optimization problems, spanning various industries. IonQ plans to extend its research using IonQ Forte and IonQ Tempo, targeting optimization needs for European airports. This collaboration [...]

Quantistry, a leader in chemical simulations, has secured €3 million ($3.28M USD) in funding led by Ananda Impact Ventures to advance research and development (R&D) in chemical and material sciences. The funding, supported by notable co-investors including Chemovator the business incubator of BASF, IBB Ventures, and a Family Office, will bolster Quantistry's mission to revolutionize industrial R&D through its cloud-native platform, integrating Quantum and AI technologies. This approach aims to address challenges such as high costs and slow innovation, offering unprecedented benefits to industries seeking sustainable solutions. Marcel Quennet, CEO of Quantistry, indicated that chemical simulations will not only transform industrial R&D but [...]

As we indicated in our article last December about IBM's roadmap, IBM has officially released version 1.0 of Qiskit. This release provides higher performance, a more stable platform, a leaner set of libraries, and an SDK built for an open-source ecosystem. It will have experimental native OpenQASM 3 support and includes support for dynamic circuits and disjoint qubit coupling maps for the new IBM Heron class of processors. Now that the software has reached version 1.0, future releases will be more structured and stable with major releases that might introduce breaking changes occurring at least one year apart. Minor versions and [...]

Quantum software company Classiq and Alice & Bob, a company working on a fault-tolerant quantum computer, have announced a partnership to bridge the gap between quantum software and hardware. The collaboration will enhance the Classiq platform with Alice & Bob’s cat qubit technology and tooling for logical qubits. Classiq’s platform will expand to include an early-access program to the first logical qubit emulator, capable of simulating logical qubits based on cat qubits. Alice & Bob is working to develop a quantum computer with 100 logical qubits that have a 10-8 error rate and this will help researchers and developers get a [...]

Zero Point Cryogenics (ZPC) has secured funding from the Government of Canada through the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program, in collaboration with the University of Waterloo. This initiative, aimed at advancing quantum technology research for defence and security applications, highlights Canada's commitment to technological innovation. ZPC's involvement in the 'Microwave Quantum Radar' project, alongside partners like Qubic Technologies and Carleton University, underscores the company's dedication to pioneering quantum solutions. The project will be supported by a $3 million contribution agreement from the IDEaS program. Zero Point Cryogenics is an Edmonton, Canada based company that supplies dilution refrigerators. Qubic [...]

Tabor Electronics, in collaboration with FormFactor, is demonstrating the first phase of the Echo-5Q project, a full stack 5-Qubit Quantum Computer powered by QuantWare's Quantum Processing Unit (QPU). This achievement showcases a significant 250% enhancement in T1 times compared to similar systems, ensuring higher qubit fidelity and increased quantum operations per cycle. The Echo-5Q project addresses the growing demand for practical quantum computing test beds and a skilled workforce. Key components of this solution include FormFactor's LF-600 Cryogen-free Dilution Refrigerator, Tabor Electronics' Proteus Direct to RF Control Electronics, and QuantWare's Soprano-D QPU. The collaboration leverages decades of experience from both Tabor [...]

ConScience AB, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has entered into a distribution agreement with Quantum Microwave, a US-based company, covering the USA and Canada. This agreement follows ConScience AB's launch of its first Quantum device, the QiB0, in Q1 2024. Quantum Microwave, known for distributing components in the quantum computing market, is pleased to include ConScience AB's products in its portfolio, enhancing its ability to offer active quantum computing devices to clients. The QiB0 device features 4 single qubits and 2 coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators with characteristics such as up to 80 µs qubit lifetime and 1 million quality factor of CPW [...]

Qblox, Maybell, and QuantWare collaborated to unveil a fully functional superconducting quantum computer at the APS March Meeting 2024, a global first for a conference setting. The system, assembled over a weekend, integrates quantum devices from QuantWare, a 10mK cryostat from Maybell, and control electronics from Qblox for live qubit operations. Featuring the Maybell Fridge, QuantWare Soprano chip, and Qblox Cluster control electronics, this innovation underscores the companies' dedication to advancing plug-and-play solutions in quantum computing. Niels Bultink, CEO of Qblox, emphasized the significance of this achievement, noting the accelerated pace of quantum technology maturation. Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell Quantum, [...]