News

Company, funding, product and policy news from across the quantum industry, as it happens.

  1. Today

    1. University of Cologne Uncovers Spectroscopic Evidence of Topological Superconductivity in TI Josephson Junctions

      Physicists at the University of Cologne have found direct spectroscopic evidence for topological superconductivity in topological insulator Josephson junctions. This research supports the Fu-Kane theoretical model and offers a way to achieve topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes without relying on destructive magnetic fields. The study used tunneling spectroscopy to observe phase-controlled energy gap closing and reopening, a key signature of topological superconductivity.

    2. IBM Quantum and QuICS Deploy AI Agents to Discover Over 500 High-Efficiency Magic-State Factories

      IBM Quantum and QuICS researchers have discovered over 500 new "magic-state factories" using AI agents and deterministic solvers. These factories produce non-Clifford states with significantly lower resource requirements, which is crucial for advancing fault-tolerant quantum computing. The findings, including detailed circuit models, are openly accessible for community use.

    3. Qoro Quantum Opens Cloud GPU Simulation Tier to Accelerate Large-Scale Circuit Emulation

      Qoro Quantum has launched a new cloud-based GPU simulation tier for its Divi Python framework, allowing researchers to run tensor-network and noisy quantum circuit simulations without manual cluster administration. This platform provides managed access to NVIDIA A10G and T4 GPU clusters, significantly accelerating complex simulations compared to CPU-based instances, especially for highly entangled circuits. The service aims to overcome classical memory limitations and simplify the use of cluster-based tensor-network methods for quantum algorithm developers.

    4. IonQ Completes $1.15B Acquisition of Elisity to Integrate Zero Trust with Quantum Security

      IonQ has acquired Elisity for $1.15 billion, integrating Elisity's zero-trust cybersecurity with IonQ's quantum security technologies. This acquisition allows IonQ to enter the enterprise IT security market, combining real-time breach containment with quantum-resistant encryption. The deal broadens IonQ's revenue base and addresses immediate and long-term enterprise security needs.

    5. IonQ Partners with QuantumCT to Provide Trapped-Ion Cloud Access Across Connecticut

      IonQ has partnered with QuantumCT to provide over 150 hours of cloud access to IonQ's trapped-ion quantum systems for organizations across Connecticut. This collaboration, involving institutions like the University of Connecticut and Yale, aims to advance quantum algorithm development, workforce training, and research in fields such as optimization and materials science. It expands regional access to diverse quantum computing architectures, complementing Yale's existing work in superconducting circuits.

    6. D-Wave Enhances Stride Hybrid Solver and Releases Applied Optimization Learning Path

      D-Wave has upgraded its Stride hybrid solver, significantly reducing solution times and improving quality for complex optimization problems like Traveling Salesperson and Assembly Line Balancing. They've also launched a new developer curriculum, "Applied Quantum Optimization," to help users leverage their Leap quantum cloud platform. This comes as D-Wave's technology, specifically an annealing-based quantum support vector machine, demonstrated high accuracy in a lung cancer detection study, outperforming gate-based quantum methods.

  2. Yesterday

    1. Universal Quantum Details Iterative Redecode Scheme for Fast Transversal Fault-Tolerant Logic

      Universal Quantum's new Iterative Redecode Scheme (IRS) addresses the error-correlation bottleneck in fast transversal quantum logic. This decoding architecture, detailed in a paper by Mark Webber and colleagues, uses a propagation-assisted local (PAL) framework to coordinate corrections across logical blocks, resulting in significantly lower logical error rates compared to other decoders. The IRS achieves this by alternating local Minimum-Weight Perfect Matching (MWPM) with deterministic Pauli-frame propagation, allowing for efficient and accurate error correction in fault-tolerant quantum hardware.

    2. Universal Quantum Unveils the iQPU: Foundry-Fabricated Trapped-Ion Processor Engineered for Modular Scaling

      Universal Quantum has launched the iQPU, a foundry-fabricated trapped-ion processor designed for modular scaling. This integrated quantum processing unit aims to eliminate wiring bottlenecks in large-scale trapped-ion systems by integrating control electronics directly on-chip and using a proprietary interconnect technology called UQConnect to link multiple iQPU modules. The iQPU will be used in two quantum computers for the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to address challenges in space mission planning, climate modeling, and materials design.

    3. Ahead of EU Quantum Act, IQM Calls for Dedicated Qubit Foundries and DARPA-Style Procurement

      A new report by IQM Quantum Computers, "Quantum Is Europe's Second Chance," calls for the EU to implement a Quantum Act to compete with other global powers in quantum computing. The report highlights Europe's strengths in public investment and QPU deployments but points out weaknesses in venture capital, chip manufacturing, and regulatory speed. It proposes dedicated qubit foundries, increased late-stage growth capital, and DARPA-style procurement to foster a robust European quantum ecosystem.

    4. FirstQFM Demonstrates Quantum Reservoir Computing on Rigetti’s 108-Qubit Processor to Outperform Classical Financial Benchmarks

      FirstQFM, in collaboration with SW7 Group and Rigetti Computing, has successfully demonstrated a financial forecasting pilot using quantum reservoir computing (QRC) on Rigetti’s 108-qubit processor. This QRC system outperformed classical machine learning models and time-series foundation models in financial benchmarks, achieving significantly higher cumulative gross profit and loss and Sharpe ratios. The study highlights QRC as a promising and latency-efficient approach for deploying NISQ processors in quantitative finance, despite not claiming general quantum advantage.

    5. Quint Computing Secures €9.1M ($10.2M USD) Seed Round to Scale Hardware-Level Quantum Error Correction

      Quint Computing, a quantum hardware startup, secured €9.1 million ($10.2 million USD) in seed funding and a €2.2 million EIC Pathfinder grant. This funding will support the commercialization of their architecture, which aims to reduce physical error-correction overhead by up to 100 times. Their patented design uses continuous electrical control in superconducting circuits to stabilize individual circuit elements against noise, enabling more efficient error correction and lowering cryogenic heat loads.

    1. Alice & Bob Demonstrates Multi-Hour Physical Bit-Flip Suppression on Single-Cat and Helium 2 Processors

      Alice & Bob has achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum computing, demonstrating macroscopic bit-flip lifetimes exceeding one hour on their bosonic cat-qubit hardware. Their single-qubit device showed an average idle bit-flip lifetime of 44 minutes, while their 12-qubit Helium 2 processor achieved lifetimes of over three to four hours. This advancement provides crucial experimental validation for their fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture and brings them closer to realizing active logical error correction.

    1. University of Stuttgart Deploys Quantum Dot QKD Link Using Frequency Conversion Over Campus Fiber

      The University of Stuttgart, in collaboration with Saarland University and Leibniz IFW Dresden, successfully deployed an entanglement-based quantum key distribution (QKD) link using a quantum dot photon source. The system generated 14.2 Mbit of secure key material over a 1.59 km fiber link, achieving one-time pad image encryption. This demonstrates the viability of quantum dots with frequency conversion for metropolitan quantum key networks.

    2. Chalmers University Demonstrates Hardware-Level Microwave Crosstalk Suppression via Parasitic Capacitance Engineering

      Physicists at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a new method to eliminate microwave crosstalk in superconducting processors. Their research shows that by engineering on-chip parasitic capacitances, they can achieve destructive interference among parasitic capacitive channels, suppressing unwanted qubit excitations. This method offers a practical advantage for floating transmons and allows for alignment of classical microwave crosstalk nulls with quantum ZZ nulls.

    3. Los Alamos and QC Ware Model Correlated Iron Oxides Using Sample-Based Quantum Diagonalization on IBM Hardware

      Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and QC Ware developed a hybrid quantum-classical workflow to simulate strongly correlated transition metal oxides. They used Sample-based Quantum Diagonalization (SQD) on IBM Quantum hardware, coupled with ab initio-informed d–p tight-binding models, to achieve chemical accuracy in modeling diatomic iron monoxide (FeO) and rhombic iron oxide dimers (Fe2O2). This method successfully recovered experimental ground states and outperformed traditional computational methods, establishing a new approach for modeling bulk periodic FeO.

    4. IBM Launches Unified Quantum Safe Software Suite to Automate Enterprise PQC Migration

      IBM has launched IBM Quantum Safe, a software suite designed to help enterprises migrate to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This platform offers tools for strategic assessment, automated source-code discovery, and dynamic network mediation. It aims to address the challenge of identifying and remediating cryptographic vulnerabilities in existing IT infrastructure, enabling organizations to transition to PQC in anticipation of federal migration deadlines.

    1. Sandia and Quantinuum Introduce Logical Gate Set Tomography to Map Fault-Tolerant Qubit Noise

      Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Quantinuum have introduced "Logical GST," a protocol that provides the first self-consistent, full tomographic reconstruction of a universal single-qubit logical gate set. This was implemented on a single logical qubit encoded in the [[7, 1, 3]] Steane code on the Quantinuum System Model H1-1. The study confirmed the assumption that quantum error correction converts complex physical noise into simple, uncorrelated Pauli-stochastic channels, but high-shot emulation revealed small but statistically significant logical non-Markovianity and coherent logical over-rotations.

    2. Quantinuum Chief Scientist Argues Physical Fidelity Trumps Gate Speed in Fault-Tolerant Scaling Race

      Quantinuum's Chief Scientist, Harry Buhrman, argues that high physical fidelity in quantum gates is more critical than raw gate speed for achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing. He highlights Quantinuum's trapped-ion architecture as superior to superconducting platforms due to its low error rates, which significantly reduce the resources needed for quantum error correction. While trapped-ion systems currently have slower gate speeds, Quantinuum aims to overcome this limitation by 2029 to make its Apollo system commercially competitive.

    3. Forschungszentrum Jülich Demonstrates 6.8-Nanosecond Single-Qubit Gates with > 99.98% Fidelity via Multi-Photon Leakage Suppression

      Physicists at Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH Aachen University, and the University of Cologne have achieved record-breaking 6.8-nanosecond single-qubit gate operations with over 99.98% fidelity on a superconducting transmon processor. Their "R2D" pulse-shaping method effectively suppresses multi-photon leakage, allowing for ultrafast gates while maintaining high fidelity. This advancement, detailed in Nature Communications, marks a significant step in quantum computing, though scaling to multi-qubit systems presents future challenges.

    4. Lumen Expands Quantum Footprint with Ohio State Fiber Research and Fortinet PQC SASE Rollout

      Lumen Technologies is advancing quantum technology with two new initiatives. They are partnering with The Ohio State University to research quantum network transport over commercial optical fiber, and integrating Fortinet's post-quantum cryptography into their SASE solution to enhance enterprise security. These efforts aim to overcome challenges in quantum signal transmission and protect against future decryption threats.

    5. TU Delft Achieves Direct Single-Atom Nuclear Magnetic Resonance via Scanning Tunneling Microscope Probe

      TU Delft physicists have achieved direct nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) control over a single surface-adsorbed atom, specifically a 47Ti atom. This was accomplished using an Electron-Nuclear Double Resonance (ENDOR) measurement scheme within an ultra-low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. This breakthrough allows for coherent nuclear addressing without relying on electron-nuclear spin hybridization, opening doors for atomic-scale quantum memory registers and high-dimensional qudits.

    6. IQM Verifies Full-Chip Entanglement Across 54-Qubit Emerald Superconducting Processor

      IQM Quantum Computers has successfully demonstrated full-chip entanglement across all 54 qubits of its IQM Emerald processor, a significant advancement in quantum computing. This achievement validates full-lattice coherence on commercial hardware, with measured state fidelities exceeding the genuine multipartite entanglement threshold. The company utilized an automated scheduling compiler and dynamical decoupling to achieve this milestone, highlighting both progress and the ongoing challenges in maintaining coherence in quantum systems.

    7. pQCee Enters U.S. Public Sector Through Carahsoft Master Aggregator Agreement

      pQCee has partnered with Carahsoft Technology Corp. to provide its post-quantum cybersecurity software to the U.S. public sector. This agreement allows Carahsoft to distribute pQCee's encryption suites to various government entities through its existing networks. This collaboration addresses the need for secure, post-quantum cryptography solutions in response to Executive Order 14412, enabling government agencies to upgrade their cybersecurity without overhauling existing IT infrastructure.

    8. IP Law Firm MBHB Launches Dedicated Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductors Practice Group in Chicago

      MBHB, an intellectual property law firm, has launched a new Quantum, Optics, and Semiconductors Practice Group in Chicago. This group will counsel hardware developers, research universities, and government contractors, focusing on patenting challenges in quantum innovation. The practice will address issues like 35 U.S.C. § 101 eligibility and federal regulations related to public funding.

    9. Wolfspeed Commercializes Transparent Silicon Carbide Substrates for Quantum Computing and Integrated Photonics

      Wolfspeed has launched transparent silicon carbide (TSiC™) wafers for quantum computing and integrated photonics, available in 150mm and 200mm sizes, with 300mm in sampling. This technology offers a scalable platform for solid-state spin qubits and quantum photonic integration, addressing manufacturing bottlenecks faced by other materials like diamond. TSiC™'s optical and thermal properties enable monolithic integration of quantum devices, overcoming previous limitations in wafer-scale fabrication.