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In the heart of Silicon Valley, where innovation is the lifeblood and the future is always a step ahead, a group of brilliant minds embarked on a journey that would redefine the very fabric of computing. The air hummed with anticipation as whispers of quantum computing echoed through the corridors of tech giants and startups alike.

As the quantum dawn approached, a small but determined team of researchers at Quantum Innovations Inc. pushed the boundaries of classical computing, aiming to harness the power of quantum mechanics. Their quest was to unlock the secrets of quantum bits, or qubits, and propel us into an era where computational power would reach unprecedented heights.

The story begins in a nondescript lab, tucked away from the bustling streets of Palo Alto. Dr. Olivia Chen, a physicist with a penchant for the abstract, led the team. Armed with a vision of quantum supremacy, they faced the daunting challenge of taming the unruly world of quantum mechanics.

Months turned into years as the researchers grappled with the delicate dance of qubits. Unlike classical bits that exist in a state of either 0 or 1, qubits could exist in multiple states simultaneously due to the principles of superposition. It was a delicate balance, and every attempt to harness this quantum dance was met with both breakthroughs and setbacks.

The team encountered unforeseen challenges, such as quantum entanglement and decoherence, threatening to derail their progress. However, with each obstacle, they emerged stronger, armed with new insights and innovative solutions. The lab became a crucible of discovery, where failure was not the end but a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal.

Word spread through the tech community as Quantum Innovations Inc. published groundbreaking papers and held clandestine conferences to share their progress. Excitement grew as the implications of quantum computing became clear solving complex problems in minutes that would take classical computers eons, revolutionizing fields from cryptography to drug discovery.

One fateful day, the team achieved quantum supremacy, a moment that reverberated across the technological landscape. The quantum computer, now affectionately known as Quanta, solved a problem deemed impossible for classical computers in mere seconds. The breakthrough echoed through the industry, triggering a wave of investment, research collaborations, and a renewed sense of what was possible.

As Quanta continued to evolve, the boundaries of what we thought achievable in computing were shattered. The story of Quantum Innovations Inc. became a beacon of inspiration, symbolizing the relentless pursuit of knowledge and the triumph of human ingenuity over the complexities of the quantum realm.

The world watched in awe as the quantum revolution unfolded, ushering in an era where the impossible was merely a challenge waiting to be conquered. In the hallowed halls of Silicon Valley, the quantum pioneers continued to push the boundaries of technology, unveiling a future where quantum leaps were not just a metaphor, but a reality shaping the digital landscape for generations to come.

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Quantum Leaps: Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Computing | by ATHARV AMBADE | Dec, 2023 - Medium

This week, Shenzhen, China-based company SpinQ claimed the shipment of the first China-made Quantum Processing Unit (QPU), Shaowei, based on superconducting qubit technology. The claim that SpinQ is now the first Chinese quantum-focused company to sell its technologies beyond mainland China - whilst leveraging a superconducting qubit design setup at that - seems to point to a newfound source of quantum processing chips for any global players that wouldn't be easily provided for by the western market. According to SpinQ, the recipient of its Shaowei chips (and the first international customer of the company's product) is located somewhere in the Middle East.

Qubits are the quantum computing equivalent of a classical bit; while bits are deterministic and can only ever represent either a 0 or a 1, qubits are probabilistic, and consider the entire solution space between both. Recent advantages have brought quantum computing up to a point where the best products actually have enough quantum volume (a measure of a quantum computer's overall performance) to provide useful calculations that are beyond what could be possible with classical computers or even supercomputers.

Established in 2018, SpinQ recently drew our attention to its quantum processing offerings by providing "quantop" solutions: these are relatively simple, one-to-three-qubits, desktop-based quantum processing systems meant for the research and education markets. Far and away from providing any significant quantum computing capability, the "quantops" delivered by SpinQ used nuclear magnetic resonance qubits. But the new Shaowei QPU, being based on superconducting qubit technology that's theoretically similar to IBM's approach, means that the company is branching out its understanding and capability to deliver useful quantum computers. SpinQ says Shaowei utilizes a stable, all-solid-state system that's especially geared towards taking advantage of and reusing more classical chip manufacturing technology.

Considering how China keeps skirting the impact of the US technological sanctions and has achieved an internal 5 nm chip manufacturing milestone without the aid of US tech, this looks like a winning bet.

According to SpinQ, its new superconducting-qubit Shaowei chips were built completely in-house through the company's factories in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Cooperation Zone. Its approach is much like IBM's (and like that of most quantum tech suppliers) in that the company aims to provide a "full-stack" approach to quantum computing by delivering every required element of the ecosystem: quantum processing units, low-temperature electronics, temperature and qubit measurement and control systems, as well as software and algorithm development applications.

Unfortunately, there's little information available on what exactly makes a Shaowei chip, well, tick. Qubit number and connection density are useful metrics, but SpinQ provides none. However, the company claims the coherence time for the qubits inside Shaowei is in the order of 10-100 microseconds (where a higher window of qubit coherence means the qubits are processing information without any catastrophic data loss). But in quantum computing (and every computational effort), results have to be trusted: SpinQ mentioned that Shaowei can perform both single and double-bit gate operations (in the nanosecond scale) and can achieve more than 99.9% single-bit gate fidelity and more than 98% double-bit gate fidelity. While that may sound like a lot, it really isn't: when your CPU can process millions of calculations per second, that 0.01% error rate can add up quickly, and impact the validity (and truthfulness) of the computed results.

It remains to be seen where SpinQ will take its superconducting qubits next, but it's perhaps surprising that China is already selling Quantum Processing Units overseas before 2023 comes to a close.

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Chinese SpinQ ships "undisclosed" superconducting Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) to the Middle East market ... - Tom's Hardware

As of 15 December 2023, famous quantum researcher Harry Buhrman of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands, QuSoft and the University of Amsterdam will start a new position. He will then begin as Chief Scientist Quantum Algorithms & Innovation at the worlds largest integrated quantum computing company Quantinuum , based in their London research centre. I still have ten years until I retire. It is time to hand over my work to a new generation and for me a chance to start a new adventure and work on new things, close to the development of physical quantum computers, Buhrman says.

Harry Buhrman started in 1994 as a post-doc researcher at CWI the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands - in Paul Vitnyi's group. In the second half of the 1990s he set up his own quantum group at CWI, the current Algorithms & Complexity group. Buhrman: While most research at that time was about physical quantum computers, I focused on quantum software and quantum information, from the perspective of computer science. You could say that the quantum software research in the Netherlands was set up at CWI. In Europe and worldwide Buhrman is also considered as one of the founding fathers of the field. Starting in 2000, Buhrman also became a professor at the University of Amsterdam, in addition to his work at CWI.

One of the things Buhrman is proud of is that the quantum field has grown from a small group of interested scientists, mainly physicists, to a large group of people, including in computer science, mathematics and now even business. In 2015, he founded the QuSoft Research Center for Quantum Software, a collaboration of CWI together with the UvA, with which approximately 80 people are now affiliated. Buhrman became director of QuSoft, along with Kareljan Schoutens.

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World-renowned quantum researcher Harry Buhrman takes on new position in London's business community - Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)

I know, I know, the above title has much eyebrow-raising potential. After all, what do Airbus and BMW have in common, and what business do they have getting involved in quantum computer research? Read on, and all shall be revealed.

These are efforts aimed at pulling into their respective businesses ideas from interested parties around the world, ideas that may one day change the way vehicles, regardless of their type, are designed, built, and operated. After all, quantum computers have the potential to come up with solutions "that have remained insurmountable for classical computers," as per Airbus.

The new joint effort is officially called The Quantum Mobility Quest, and it is aimed at all those with an interest in quantum computing or the automotive and aviation industries. More to the point, submissions of ideas are accepted from students, PhDs, academics, researchers, start-ups, and companies.

But what are BMW and Airbus looking for? In a nutshell, the new challenge targets four main areas: improving aerodynamics design with quantum solvers, automated mobility with quantum machine learning, sustainable supply chain with quantum optimization, and enhanced corrosion inhibition with quantum simulation. Additionally, participants can submit their own ideas if they feel they have the potential to change in some way any of the two industries.

The two companies have set up a special page for entries of ideas to be submitted in what is described as a first-of-its-kind challenge, hosted by The Quantum Insider. The project is also supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which will those who need to run their algorithms access to the Braket quantum computing service.

Entries won't be accepted before mid-January 2024, and the challenge will close on April 30. During these four months, the involved parties will have to develop a theoretical framework for one of the challenges mentioned above.

A jury comprising people from Airbus, BMW, and Amazon will then look at the ideas and select the best ones. They'll have to put to the test through some sort of implementation, including by running these solutions through Braket.

A single winner will be declared for each of the challenges, and they will receive each a 30,000 euros ($32,300) prize. The winners are expected to be announced by the end of next year.

Airbus and BMW hope to be left at the end of this entire project with solutions for real-world industrial applications. The most optimistic of the two is the airplane maker, which hopes the effort will "create a massive paradigm shift in the way aircraft are built and flown."

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Airbus and BMW Join Hands in First-of-Its-Kind Quest for Quantum Computer Breakthroughs - autoevolution

This week, IBM announced a pair of shiny new quantum computers.

The companys Condor processor is the first quantum chip of its kind with over 1,000 qubits, a feat that would have made big headlines just a few years ago. But earlier this year, a startup, Atom Computing, unveiled a 1,180-qubit quantum computer using a different approach. And although IBM says Condor demonstrates it can reliably produce high-quality qubits at scale, itll likely be the largest single chip the company makes until sometime next decade.

Instead of growing the number of qubits crammed onto each chip, IBM will focus on getting the most out of the qubits it has. In this respect, the second chip announced, Heron, is the future.

Though Heron has fewer qubits than Condorjust 133its significantly faster and less error-prone. The company plans to combine several of these smaller chips into increasingly more powerful systems, a bit like the multicore processors powering smartphones. The first of these, System Two, also announced this week, contains three linked Condor chips.

IBM also updated its quantum roadmap, a timeline of key engineering milestones, through 2033. Notably, the company is aiming to complete a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. The machine wont be large enough to run complex quantum algorithms, like the one expected to one day break standard encryption. Still, its a bold promise.

Practical quantum computers will be able to tackle problems that cant be solved using classical computers. But todays systems are far too small and error-ridden to realize that dream. To get there, engineers are working on a solution called error-correction.

A qubit is the fundamental unit of a quantum computer. In your laptop, the basic unit of information is a 1 or 0 represented by a transistor thats either on or off. In a quantum computer, the unit of information is 1, 0, orthanks to quantum weirdnesssome combination of the two. The physical component can be an atom, electron, or tiny superconducting loop of wire.

Opting for the latter, IBM makes its quantum computers by cooling loops of wire, or transmons, to temperatures near absolute zero and placing them into quantum states. Heres the problem. Qubits are incredibly fragile, easily falling out of these quantum states throughout a calculation. This introduces errors that make todays machines unreliable.

One way to solve this problem is to minimize errors. IBMs made progress here. Heron uses some new hardware to significantly speed up how quickly the system places pairs of qubits into quantum statesan operation known as a gatelimiting the number of errors that crop up and spread to neighboring qubits (researchers call this crosstalk).

Its a beautiful device, Gambetta told Ars Technica. Its five times better than the previous devices, the errors are way less, [and] crosstalk cant really be measured.

But you cant totally eliminate errors. In the future, redundancy will also be key.

By spreading information between a group of qubits, you can reduce the impact of any one error and also check for and correct errors in the group. Because it takes multiple physical qubits to form one of these error-corrected logical qubits, you need an awful lot of them to complete useful calculations. This is why scale matters.

Software can also help. IBM is already employing a technique called error mitigation, announced earlier this year, in which it simulates likely errors and subtracts them from calculations. Theyve also identified a method of error-correction that reduces the number of physical qubits in a logical qubit by nearly an order of magnitude. But all this will require advanced forms of connectivity between qubits, which could be the biggest challenge ahead.

Youre going to have to tie them together, Dario Gil, senior vice president and director of research at IBM, told Reuters. Youre going to have to do many of these things together to be practical about it. Because if not, its just a paper exercise.

Something that makes IBM unique in the industry is that it publishes a roadmap looking a decade into the future.

This may seem risky, but to date, theyve stuck to it. Alongside the Condor and Heron news, IBM also posted an updated version of its roadmap.

Next year, theyll release an upgraded version of Heron capable of 5,000 gate operations. After Heron comes Flamingo. Theyll link seven of these Flamingo chips into a single system with over 1,000 qubits. They also plan to grow Flamingos gate count by roughly 50 percent a year until it hits 15,000 in 2028. In parallel, the company will work on error-correction, beginning with memory, then moving on to communication and gates.

All this will culminate in a 200-qubit, fault-tolerant chip called Starling in 2029 and a leap in gate operations to 100 million. Starling will give way to the bigger Blue Jay in 2033.

Though it may be the most open about them, IBM isnt alone in its ambitions.

Google is pursuing the same type of quantum computer and has been focused on error-correction over scaling for a few years. Then there are other kinds of quantum computers entirelysome use charged ions as qubits while others use photons, electrons, or like Atom Computing, neutral atoms. Each approach has its tradeoffs.

When it comes down to it, theres a simple set of metrics for you to compare the performance of the quantum processors, Jerry Chow, director of quantum systems at IBM, told the Verge. Its scale: what number of qubits can you get to and build reliably? Quality: how long do those qubits live for you to perform operations and calculations on? And speed: how quickly can you actually run executions and problems through these quantum processors?

Atom Computing favors neutral atoms because theyre identicaleliminating the possibility of manufacturing flawscan be controlled wirelessly, and operate at room temperature. Chow agrees there are interesting things happening in the nuetral atom space but speed is a drawback. It comes down to that speed, he said. Anytime you have these actual atomic items, either an ion or an atom, your clock rates end up hurting you.

The truth is the race isnt yet won, and wont be for awhile yet. New advances or unforeseen challenges could rework the landscape. But Chow said the companys confidence in its approach is what allows them to look ahead 10 years.

And to me its more that there are going to be innovations within that are going to continue to compound over those 10 years, that might make it even more attractive as time goes on. And thats just the nature of technology, he said.

Image Credit: IBM

Link:
IBM Is Planning to Build Its First Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer by 2029 - Singularity Hub