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Research teams from energy giant ExxonMobil and IBM have been working together to find quantum solutions to one of the most complex problems of our time: managing the tens of thousands of merchant ships crossing the oceans to deliver the goods that we use every day.

The scientists lifted the lid on the progress that they have made so far and presented the different strategies that they have been using to model maritime routing on existing quantum devices, with the ultimate goal of optimizing the management of fleets.

ExxonMobil was the first energy company to join IBM's Quantum Network in 2019, and has expressed a keen interest in using the technology to explore various applications, ranging from the simulation of new materials to solving optimization problems.

SEE: Research: Why Industrial IoT deployments are on the rise (TechRepublic Premium)

Now, it appears that part of the energy company's work was dedicated to tapping quantum capabilities to calculate journeys that minimize the distance and time traveled by merchant ships across the globe.

On a worldwide scale, the equation is immense intractable, in fact, for classical computers. About 90% of world trade relies on maritime shipping, with more than 50,000 ships, themselves carrying up to 200,000 containers each, moving around every day to transport goods with a total value of $14 trillion.

The more the number of ships and journeys increase, the bigger the problem becomes. As IBM and ExxonMobil's teams put itin a blog post detailing their research: "Logistically speaking, this isn't the 'traveling salesperson problem.'"

While this type of exponentially growing problem can only be solved with simplifications and approximations on classical computers, the challenge is well-suited to quantum technologies. Quantum computers can effectively leverage a special dual state that is taken on by quantum bits, or qubits, to run many calculations at once; meaning that even the largest problems could be resolved in much less time than is possible on a classical computer.

"We wanted to see whether quantum computers could transform how we solve such complex optimization problems and provide more accurate solutions in less computational times," said the researchers.

Although the theory behind the potential of quantum computing is well-established, it remains to be found how quantum devices can be used in practice to solve a real-world problem such as the global routing of merchant ships. In mathematical terms, this means finding the right quantum algorithms that could be used to most effectively model the industry's routing problems, on current or near-term devices.

To do so, IBM and ExxonMobil's teams started with widely-used mathematical representations of the problem, which account for factors such as the routes traveled, the potential movements between port locations and the order in which each location is visited on a particular route. There are many existing ways to formulate the equation, one of which is called the quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) technique, and which is often used in classical computer science.

The next question was to find out whether well-known models like QUBO can be solved with quantum algorithms and if so, which solvers work better. Using IBM's Qiskit optimization module, which was released last year toassist developers in building quantum optimization algorithms, the team tested various quantum algorithms labeled with unbeatably exotic names: the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE), the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), and Alternating Direction Method of Multiplier (ADMM) solvers.

After running the algorithms on a simulated quantum device, the researchers found that models like QUBO could effectively be solved by quantum algorithms, and that depending on the size of the problem, some solvers showed better results than others.

In another promising finding, the team said that the experiment showed some degree of inexactness in solving QUBOs is tolerable. "This is a promising feature to handle the inherent noise affecting the quantum algorithms on real devices," said the researchers.

SEE: BMW explores quantum computing to boost supply chain efficiencies

Of course, while the results suggest that quantum algorithms could provide real-world value, the research was carried out on devices that are still technically limited, and the experiments can only remain small-scale. The idea, however, is to develop working algorithms now, to be ready to harness the power of a fully fledged quantum computer when the technology develops.

"As a result of our joint research, ExxonMobil now has a greater understanding of the modelling possibilities, quantum solvers available, and potential alternatives for routing problems in any industry," said the researchers.

What applies to merchant ships, in effect, can also work in other settings. Routing problems are not inherent to the shipping industry, and the scientists confirmed that their findings could easily be transferred to any vehicle optimization problem that has time constraints, such as goods delivery, ride-sharing services or urban waste management.

In fact, ExxonMobil is not the first company to look at ways to use quantum computing techniques to solve optimization problems. Electronics manufacturer OTI Lumionics, for example, has been using QUBO representations to find the most optimal simulation of next-generation OLED materials. Instead of using gate-based quantum computers to run the problem, however, the company has been developing quantum-inspired algorithms to solve calculations on classical Microsoft Azure hardware,with encouraging results.

The mathematical formulas and solution algorithmsare described in detail in the research paper, and the ExxonMobil/IBM team stressed that their use is not restricted. The researchers encouraged their colleagues to reproduce their findings to advance the global field of quantum solvers.

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IBM and ExxonMobil are building quantum algorithms to solve this giant computing problem - ZDNet

Europe has always been excellent in academic research, but over the past few decades commercializing research projects has been slow compared to international competition. This is starting to change with quantum technologies. As one of the largest efforts in Europe and worldwide, Germany announced 2 Billion funding into quantum programs in June 2020, from which 120 Million are invested in this current round of research grants.

Today, IQM announced a Quantum project consortium that includes Europe's leading startups (ParityQC, IQM), industry leaders (Infineon Technologies), research centers (Forschungszentrum Jlich),supercomputing centers (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre), and academia (Freie Universitt Berlin) has been awarded 12.4 Million from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Announcement in German).

The scope of the project is to accelerate commercialization through an innovative co-design concept. This project focuses on application-specific quantum processors, which have the potential to create a fastlane to quantum advantage. The digital-analog concept used to operate the processors will further lay the foundation for commercially viable quantum computers. This project will run for four years and aims to develop a 54-qubit quantum processor.

The project is intended to support the European FET Flagship project EU OpenSuperQ, announced in 2018 which is aimed at designing, building, and operating a quantum information processing system of up to 100 qubits. Deploying digital-analog quantum computing, this consortium adds a new angle to the OpenSuperQ project and widens its scope. With efforts from Munich, Berlin and Jlich, as well as Parity QC from Austria, the project builds bridges and seamlessly integrates into the European quantum landscape.

"The grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germanyis a huge recognition of our unique co-design approach for quantum computers. Last year when we established our office in Munich, this was one of our key objectives. The concept allows us to become a system integrator for full-stack quantum computers by bringing together all the relevant players. As Europe's leading startup in quantum technologies, this gives us confidence to further invest in Germany and other European countries" said Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO of IQM Quantum Computers.

As European technology leader, Germany is taking several steps to lead the quantum technology race. An important role of such leadership is to bring together the European startups, industry, research and academic partners. This project will give the quantum landscape in Germany an accelerated push and will create a vibrant quantum ecosystem in the region for the future.

Additional Quotes:

"DAQC is an important project for Germany and Europe. It enables us to take a leading role in the area of quantum technologies. It also allows us to bring quantum computing into one of the prime academic supercomputing centres to more effectively work on the important integration of high-performance computing and quantum computing. We are looking forward to a successful collaboration," said Prof. DrMartinSchulz, Member of the Board of Directors, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ).

"The path towards scalable and fully programmable quantum computing will be the parallelizability of gates and building with reduced complexity in order to ensure manageable qubit control. Our ParityQC architecture is the blueprint for a fully parallelizable quantum computer, which comes with the associated ParityOS operating system. With the team of extraordinary members of the DAQC consortium this will allow us to tackle the most pressing and complex industry-relevant optimization problems." saidMagdalena Hauser & Wolfgang Lechner, CEOs & Co-founder ParityQC

"We are looking forward to exploring and realizing a tight connection between hardware and applications, and having DAQC quantum computers as a compatible alternative within the OpenSuperQ laboratory. Collaborations like this across different states, and including both public and private partners, have the right momentum to move quantum computing in Germany forward." saidProf. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch, Director, Institute for Quantum Computing Analytics, Forschungszentrum Jlich

"At Infineon, we are looking forward to collaborating with top-class scientists and leading start-ups in the field of quantum computing in Europe. We must act now if we in Germany and Europe do not want to become solely dependent on American or Asian know-how in this future technology area. We are very glad to be part of this highly innovative project and happy to contribute with our expertise in scaling and manufacturing processes." saidDr.Sebastian Luber, Senior Director Technology & Innovation, Infineon Technologies AG

"This is a hugely exciting project. It is a chance of Europe and Germany to catch up in the development of superconducting quantum computers. I am looking forward to adventures on understanding how such machines can be certified in their precise functioning." said Prof.Jens Eisert, Professor of Quantum Physics, Freie Universitt Berlin

About IQM Quantum Computers:

IQM is the European leader in superconducting quantum computers, headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Since its inception in 2018, IQM has grown to 80+ employees and has also established a subsidiary in Munich, Germany, to lead the co-design approach. IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers and provides complete access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through a unique application-specific co-design approach. IQM has raised 71 Million from VCs firms and also public grants and is also building Finland's first quantum computer.

For more information, visit http://www.meetiqm.com.

Registered offices:

IQM Finland OyKeilaranta 1902150 EspooFINLANDwww.meetiqm.com

IQM GERMANY GmbHNymphenburgerstr. 8680636 MnchenGermany

IQM: Facts and Figures

Founders:

Media Contact: Raghunath Koduvayur, Head of Marketing and Communications, [emailprotected], +358504876509

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1437806/IQM_Quantum_Computers_Founders.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1437807/IQM_Quantum_computer_design.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1121497/IQM_Logo.jpg

SOURCE IQM Finland Oy

http://meetiqm.com/contact/

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New EU Consortium shaping the future of Quantum Computing USA - PRNewswire

John Smith, who has been regularly keeping up with computer science, quantum computing, and cryptocurrency-related developments, claims that the future of crypto is quantum-resistant, meaning we must build systems that can protect themselves against the potential attack from quantum computers (QCs) when they become powerful enough to present a challenge to digital asset networks.

While discussing what the future threat to Bitcoin (BTC) from Quantum Computing might be, and how big of a deal it really is, Smith claims that the threat is that quantum computers will eventually be able to break Bitcoins current digital signatures, which could render the network insecure and cause it to lose value.

He goes on to question why there isnt already a solution as trivial as simply upgrading the signatures? He explains that this might not be possible due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin and other large crypto-asset networks such as Ethereum (ETH).

While discussing how long until someone actually develops a quantum computer that can steal BTC by quickly deriving private keys from their associated public keys, Smith reveals that serious estimates range somewhere from 5 to over 30 years, with the median expert opinion being around 15 years.

Smooth added:

Banks/govts/etc. will soon upgrade to quantum-resistant cryptography to secure themselves going forward. Bitcoin, however, with large financial incentives for attacking it and no central authority that can upgrade *for* users, faces a unique set of challenges.

Going on to mention the main challenges, Smith notes that we can separate vulnerable BTC into three classes, including lost coins (which are estimated to be several million), non-lost coins residing in reused/taproot/otherwise-vulnerable addresses, and coins in the mempool (i.e., being transacted).

Beginning with lost coins, why are they even an issue? Because its possible to steal a huge number all at once and then selling them in mass quantities which could tank the entire crypto market. He added that if that seems imminent, the market could preemptively tank. He also mentioned that an attacker may profit greatly by provoking either of the above and shorting BTC.

While proposing potential solutions, Smith suggests preemptively burning lost coins via soft fork (or backwards compatible upgrade). He clarifies that just how well this works will depend on:

He further noted:

Another potential way around the problem of millions of lost BTC is if a benevolent party were to steal & then altruistically burn them. Not clear how realistic this is, given the financial incentives involved & who the parties likely to have this capability would be.

He added:

Moving on why are non-lost coins with vulnerable public keys an issue? This is self-evident. The primary threat to the wealth of BTC holders is their BTC being stolen. And as with lost coins, a related threat is that the market starts to fear such an attack is possible.

He also mentioned that another solution could be that Bitcoin adds a quantum-resistant signature and holders proactively migrate. He points out that how well this all works will depend on:

While discussing the vulnerability of coins in the mempool, Smith mentioned that it could complicate migration to quantum-resistant addresses *after* large QCs are built or it could greatly magnify the threat posed by an unanticipated black swan advance in QC.

While proposing other solutions, Smith noted:

A commit-reveal tx scheme can be used to migrate coins without mempool security. This gets around the vulnerability of a users old public key by adding an extra encryption/decryption step based on their new quantum-resistant key but w/ crucial limitations.

He added:

Considerations w/ commit-reveal migration [are that] its not foolproof unless a user starts with their coins stored in a non-vulnerable address, because attackers can steal any vulnerable coins simply by beating the original owner to the punch.

Considerations with commit-reveal migration are also that commit transactions introduce technical hurdles (vs. regular txs) & increase the load on the network. Neither of these are insurmountable by any means, but they suggest that this method should not be relied upon too heavily, Smith claims.

He also noted that how well the commit-reveal transaction type works will depend on:

He added:

One potential way around the network overhead & just plain hassle of commit-reveal migration would be if a highly efficient quantum-resistant zero-knowledge proof were discovered. Current QR ZK algorithms are far too large to use in Bitcoin, but that could change. Worth noting.

While sharing other potential solutions, Smith noted that theres the tank the attack & rebuild.

He pointed out that Bitcoins network effects are massive, so it is challenging to accurately estimate or predict what the crypto ecosystem will look like in the future, but the potential economic disruption of BTC failing may incentivize extraordinary measures to save the network.

He added:

Bitcoins ability to tank a quantum-computing-related market crash will depend on [whether theres] another chain capable of replacing BTC as the main crypto store of value [and whether] BTC [can] avoid a mining death spiral? Also, how far will stakeholders go to ensure the network survives & rebounds?

Smith also mentioned that for people or institutions holding Bitcoin, some good measures may be purchasing insurance, and/or hedging BTC exposure with an asset that would be expected to increase in value in the case of an attack.

Read the rest here:
Quantum Computers May Steal Bitcoin by Deriving Private Keys once Advanced Enough in 5-30 Years, Experts Claim - Crowdfund Insider

The UK is now facing a huge challenge: after having secured a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status is going to require some serious stepping up.

National quantum programs and decade-long quantum strategies are increasingly being announced by governments around the world. And as countries unlock billions-worth of budgets, it is becoming clear that a furious competition is gradually unrolling. Nations want to make sure that they are the place-to-be when quantum technologies start showing some real-world value and the UK, for one, is keen to prove that it is a quantum hotspot in the making.

"We have a very successful program that is widely admired and emulated around the world," said Peter Knight, who sits on the strategic advisory for the UK's national quantum technology program (NQTP), as he provided a virtual update on the NQTP's performance so far.

Speaking at an online conference last month, Knight seemed confident. The UK, said the expert, in line with the objectives laid out in the program, is on track to become "the go-to place" for new quantum companies to start, and for established businesses to base all manners of innovative quantum activities.

SEE: Hiring Kit: Computer Hardware Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)

The UK is just over halfway through the NQTP, which saw its second five-year phase kick off at the end of 2019, and at the same timehit an impressive milestone of 1 billion ($1.37 billion) combined investment. This, the government claims, is letting the UK keep pace with competitors who are also taking interest in quantum namely, the US and China.

There is no doubt that the country has made strides in the field of quantum since the start of the NQTP. New ground-breaking research papers are popping up on a regular basis, and so are news reports of rounds of funding from promising quantum startups.

But with still just under half of the national quantum program to carry out, and despite the huge sums already invested, the UK is now facing a bigger challenge yet: after having chased a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status in the face of ferocious competition is going to require some serious stepping up.

Clearly playing in favor of the UK is the country's early involvement in the field. The NQTP was announced as early as 2013, and started operating in 2014, with an initial 270 million ($370 million) budget. The vision laid out in the program includes creating a "quantum-enabled economy", in which the technology would significantly contribute to the UK's economy and attract both strong investment and global talent.

"The national program was one of the first to kick off," Andrew Fearnside, senior associate specializing in quantum technologies at intellectual property firm Mewburn Ellis, tells ZDNet. "There are increasingly more national programs emerging in other countries, but they are a good few years behind us. The fact that there has been this sustained and productive long-term government initiative is definitely attractive."

The EU's Quantum Technologies Flagship, in effect,only launched in 2018; some countries within the bloc,like France, started their own quantum roadmaps on top of the European initiative even later. Similarly, the National Quantum Initiative Act wassigned into law by the Trump administration but that was also in 2018, years into the UK's national quantum technology program.

Since it launched in 2014, there has been abundant evidence of the academic successes of the initial phase of the NQTP. In Birmingham, the Quantum Sensing Hub is developing new types of quantum-based magnetic sensors that could help diagnose brain and heart conditions, while the Quantum Metrology Institute leads the development of quantum atomic clocks. There are up to 160 research groups and universities registered across the UK withprograms that are linked to quantum technologies, working on projects ranging from the design of quantum algorithms to the creation of new standards and verification methods.

A much harder challenge, however, is to transform this strong scientific foundation into business value and as soon as the UK government announced the second phase of the NQTP at the end of 2019,a clear messageemerged: quantum technology needed to come out of the lab, thanks to increased private sector investment that would accelerate commercialization.

Some key initiatives followed. A national quantum computing center was established for academics to work alongside commercial partners such as financial services company Standard Chartered, "possibly with an eye on financial optimization problems," notes Fearnside, given the business'established interest in leveraging quantum technologies. A 10 million ($13 million) "Discovery" program alsolaunched a few months ago, bringing together five quantum computing companies, three universities and the UK's national physical laboratory all for the purpose of making quantum work for businesses.

The government's efforts have been, to an extent, rewarded. The quantum startup ecosystem is thriving in the UK, with companies like Riverlane or Cambridge Quantum Computing completing strong rounds of private financing. In total, up to 204 quantum-related businesses have been listed so far in the country.

But despite these encouraging results, the UK is still faced with a big problem. Bringing university-born innovation to the real worldhas always been a national challenge, and quantum is no exception. A 2018 report from the Science and Technology committee, in fact,gave an early warning of the stumbling blocksthat the NQTP might run into, and stressed the need for improved awareness across industry of the potential of quantum technologies.

The committee urged the government to start conveying the near-term benefits that quantum could provide to businesses something that according to the report, CEOs and company chairs in North America worryingly seem to realize a whole lot better.

It's been three years since the report was published, and things haven't changed much. Speaking at the same forum as the NQTP's Peter Knight, Ian West, a partner at consultancy firm KPMG, said that there remained a huge barrier to the widespread take-up of quantum technologies in the UK. "Some of our clients feel they don't understand the technology, or feel it's one for the academics only," he argued.

"We need that demand from businesses who will be the ultimate users of quantum technologies, to encourage more investment," West added. "We need to do much more to explain the near-term and medium-term use cases for business applications of quantum technologies."

SEE: BMW explores quantum computing to boost supply chain efficiencies

Without sufficient understanding of the technology, funding problems inevitably come. The difficulty of securing private money for quantum stands in stark contrast to the situation across the Atlantic, where investors have historically done a better job of spotting and growing successful technology companies. Add the deep pockets of tech giants such as Google, IBM or Microsoft, which are all pouring money into quantum research, and it is easy to see why North America might have better prospects when it comes to winning the quantum game.

In the worst of cases, this has led to US technology hubs hoovering up some of the best quantum brains in the UK. In 2019, for example, PsiQ, a promising startup that was founded at the University of Bristol with the objective of producing a commercial quantum computer, re-located to Silicon Valley. The movewas reported to be partly motivated by a lack of access to capital in Europe. It was a smart decision: according to the company's latest update, PsiQ hasnow raised $215 million (156 million) in VC funding.

Pointing to the example of PsiQ, Simon King, partner and deep tech investor at VC firm Octopus Ventures, explains that to compete against the US, the UK needs to up its game when it comes to assessing the startups that show promise, and making sure that they are injected with adequate cash.

"The US remains the biggest competitor, with a big concentration of universities and academics and the pedigree and culture of commercializing university research," King tells ZDNet. "Things are definitely moving in the right direction, but the UK and Europe still lag behind the US, where there is a deeper pool of capital and there are more investors willing to invest in game-changing, but long-term technology like quantum."

US-based private investors are only likely to increase funding for the quantum ecosystem in the coming years, and significant amounts of public money will be backing the technology too. The National Quantum Initiative Act that was signed in 2018 came with $1.2 billion (870 million) to be invested in quantum information science over the next five years; as more quantum companies flourish, the budget can be expected to expand even further.

Competition will be coming from other parts of the world as well. In addition to the European Commission's 1 billion ($1.20 billion) quantum flagship, EU countries are also spending liberally on the technology. Germany, in particular, has launched a 2 billion ($2.4 billion) funding program for the promotion of quantum technologies in the country, surpassing by far many of its competitors; but France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are all increasingly trying to establish themselves as hubs for quantum startups and researchers.

SEE: Less is more: IBM achieves quantum computing simulation for new materials with fewer qubits

Little data is available to measure the scope of the commercialization of quantum technology in China, but the country has made no secret of its desire to secure a spot in the quantum race, too. The Chinese government has ramped up its spending on research and development, and the impact of that investment has already shown in the countryachieving some significant scientific breakthroughs in the field.

In the midst of this ever-more competitive landscape, whether the UK can effectively distinguish itself as the "go-to place" for quantum technologies remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: the country has laid some very strong groundwork to compete. "The UK has some genuinely world-class universities with some really brilliant academics, so while the objective is certainly ambitious, it's not out of the question," argues King.

But even top-notch researchers and some of the most exciting quantum startups might not cut it. The UK has positioned itself well from an early stage in the quantum race, but becoming a frontrunner was only one part of the job. Preserving the country's position for the coming years might prove to be the hardest challenge yet.

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The global quantum computing race has begun. What will it take to win it? - ZDNet

Security experts have long worried that advances in quantum computing could eventually make it easier to break encryption that protects the privacy of peoples data. Thats because these sophisticated machines can perform calculations at speeds impossible for conventional computers, potentially enabling them to crack codes previously thought indecipherable.

Now, a Swiss technology company says it has made a breakthrough by using quantum computers to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used encryption. The company believes its found a security weakness that could jeopardize the confidentiality of the worlds internet data, banking transactions and emails.

Terra Quantum AG said its discovery upends the current understanding of what constitutes unbreakable encryption and could have major implications for the worlds leading technology companies, such as Alphabet Inc.s Google, Microsoft Corp., and International Business Machines Corp.

Don't miss: ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota warn EU of risks of weakening encryption

But some other security experts said they arent nearly ready to declare a major breakthrough, at least not until the company publishes the full details of its research. If true, this would be a huge result, said Brent Waters, a computer science professor who specialises in cryptography at the University of Texas at Austin. It seems somewhat unlikely on the face of it. However, it is pretty hard for experts to weigh in on something without it being published.

IBM spokesman Christopher Sciacca said his company has known the risks for 20 years and is working on its own solutions to address the issue of post-quantum security. This is why the National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) has been hosting a challenge to develop a new quantum safe crypto standard, he said in an email. IBM has several proposals for this new standard in the final round, which is expected in a few years.

Brian LaMacchia, distinguished engineer at Microsoft, said company cryptographers are collaborating with the global cryptographic community to prepare customers and data centers for a quantum future. Preparing for security in a post-quantum world is important not only to protect and secure data in the future but also to ensure that future quantum computers are not a threat to the long-term security of todays information.

Google didnt reply to a message seeking comment.

Terra Quantum AG has a team of about 80 quantum physicists, cryptographers and mathematicians, who are based in Switzerland, Russia, Finland and the US What currently is viewed as being post-quantum secure is not post-quantum secure, said Markus Pflitsch, chief executive officer and founder of Terra Quantum, in an interview. We can show and have proven that it isnt secure and is hackable.

Also read: Heres how an encrypted, locked Android and Apple phone gets bypassed

Pflitsch founded the company in 2019. Hes a former finance executive who began his career as a research scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Terra Quantums research is led by two chief technology officers Gordey Lesovik, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Information Technology at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and Valerii Vinokur, a Chicago-based physicist who in 2020 won the Fritz London Memorial Prize for his work in condensed matter and theoretical physics.

The company said that its research found vulnerabilities that affect symmetric encryption ciphers, including the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, which is widely used to secure data transmitted over the internet and to encrypt files. Using a method known as quantum annealing, the company said its research found that even the strongest versions of AES encryption may be decipherable by quantum computers that could be available in a few years from now.

Vinokur said in an interview that Terra Quantums team made the discovery after figuring out how to invert whats called a hash function, a mathematical algorithm that converts a message or portion of data into a numerical value. The research will show that what was once believed unbreakable doesnt exist anymore, Vinokur said, adding that the finding means a thousand other ways can be found soon.

Read more: Chinese scientists make world's first light-based quantum computer: Report

The company, which is backed by the Zurich-based venture capital firm Lakestar LP, has developed a new encryption protocol that it says cant be broken by quantum computers. Vinokur said the new protocol utilizes a method known as quantum key distribution.

Terra Quantum is currently pursuing a patent for the new protocol. But the company will make it available for free, according to Pflitsch. We will open up access to our protocol to make sure we have a safe and secure environment, said Pflitsch. We feel obliged to share it with the world and the quantum community.

The US government, like China, has made research in quantum computing research an economic and national security priority, saying that the world is on the cusp of what it calls a new quantum revolution. In addition, technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and IBM have made large investments in quantum computing in recent years.

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A Swiss company claims it used quantum computers to find weakness in encryption - HT Tech