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Quantum Computing Is Different

Quantum computing is the idea of using quantum physics to perform calculations, which differs from normal semiconductor-based computing methods. Instead of generating 0 and 1 (no current or current), it uses quantum bits, called qubits, where particle data is either 0 AND 1 at once, or 1, or 0.

Because of the fundamental difference in the way of calculus, quantum computing is not so much an alternative to normal computing but rather a complement.

Standard computing works in a linear fashion and struggles with very complex calculations, like climate modeling, cryptography, or the 3D configuration of complex molecules like proteins. And this is precisely the type of calculation that quantum computing is expected to excel at.

So, while our laptops and smartphones are likely to never be quantum computers, they could revolutionize scientific research.

So, with the promise that quantum supercomputers will perform a thousand times better than the existing ones, it is not a surprise that plenty of research has been done to make them a reality.

But the problem is that creating even one qubit is technically very difficult. The first difficulty is that quantum computing only works at ultra-low temperatures, around a hundred degrees above absolute zero. Only in these conditions are some unique materials turning into superconductors (materials with no electric resistance). This is energy-consuming, expensive, and difficult to achieve.

And then, managing to control, manipulate, and read the data in a qubit is also complex, usually involving ultra-precise lasers, atomic microscopes, and sensors. Lastly, any interference will make the qubit useless, so a perfect vacuum needs to be achieved as well.

While semiconductor chips manipulate matter at scales measuring only a few atoms', quantum computing is looking to handle the matter at the particle scale. Notably, a practical quantum computer will require thousands of qubits to stay stable and interact with each other.

A team headed by Professor Gerhard Birkl from the Atoms Photons Quanta research group in the Department of Physics at TU Darmstadtin Germanyhas just created the largest quantum computer yet.

They have created a quantum computer with 1,000 individually controllable atomic qubits, winning a race in the field against many other scientific teams.

The 1,000 mark is partially symbolic but also around the number expected to be required for meaningful application of quantum computers. Less than that, they are mostly a scientific curiosity and a promising idea, but not much more.

The technique uses optical tweezers, which are special lasers able to manipulate the atoms individually. Thanks to progress in micro-optics, this is the most promising technique in quantum computing for a scalable method to build much bigger systems.

As the number of lenslets per square centimeter readily reaches 100,000 and MLA wafers with areas of several 100 square centimeters can be produced, they have enormous potential in terms of scalability, only limited by the available laser power

Source: Optica

By perfecting the usage of such optical tweezers, Prof. Birkl has demonstrated that large quantum computers, with thousands of qubits, can be engineered. This, in turn, will give the essential tool needed by other researchers to perform quantum computations.

Many problems physicists struggle with today are linked to particle behavior at the quantum scale, or at least as soon as more than 30 particles are simulated. This is a problem as ordinary computing systems struggle with the probabilistic behavior of particles and quantum physics in general.

To solve this issue, the ideal situation would be to develop a quantum simulator where qubits can simulate the behavior of quantum particles. This is because qubits use themselves the quantum properties of entanglement and superposition, which are the parts so hard to simulate in a normal computer.

While quantum simulators are essentially a special type of quantum computer, the issue so far has been to make them able to simulate many different particles instead of having to custom design a quantum simulator for each specific physical question.

Natalia Chepiga and her research group, assistant professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, might have found a solution.

She proposes a protocol that creates a fully controllable quantum simulator in a scientific paper published in Physical Review Letters. This works by using two lasers with different frequencies or colors, adding an extra dimension to the calculation. Theoretically, this method could be expanded to add more than 2 dimensions to the quantum simulator calculus.

This type of quantum simulator could be a major boost in plenty of research efforts at the very edge of our current knowledge, including ultra-cold physics (including superconductors), semiconductors, material sciences, telecommunications, and energy technologies (especially batteries).

Most quantum computing designs are focused on qubits, and making them more easy to manipulate/program and to add more of them. An alternative is using quantum digits, or qudits.

Aquantum computer withxqubits can perform 2xcalculations. However, a machine withxnumber ofqudits, with D representing the number of states per qudit, can perform Dx number of calculations.

This means you can encode the same information in fewer quantum particles when using qudits,

Martin Ringbauer, a quantum physicist at the University of Innsbruck in Austriain IEEE Spectrum

In simpler terms, the more D dimensions to a quantum computing system, the more it is becoming exponentially powerful. In addition to this more efficient calculation using qudits instead of qubits, they are expected to be more reliable and less likely to cause calculation error than qubits.

So it is big news that a team of researchers led by Andrea Morelloat the USNW in Australia has createda 16-dimension, highly controllable qudit computing system. With D=16, any quantity of qudits added to the system increases the computing capacity by a power 16.

To achieve this, they used a 123Sb (antimony) donor atom, which was ion-implanted in a silicon nanoelectronic device.

The combined Hilbert space of the atom spans 16 dimensions, and can be accessed using both electric and magnetic control fields. Andrea Morello

This system achieved remarkable results; notably, the nuclear spin already shows gate fidelities exceeding 99% regardless of the drive mechanism. The antimony atom is also an improvement over the previously used 31P (phosphorus), as antimony is a heavier atom and is easier to manipulate.

This technical and scientific achievement is also further improving, notably using isotopically purified 28Si (silicon), removing residual 29Si concentration, and improving the system's reliability (coherence times and gate fidelities).

The field is still very much in its infancy, with whole new concepts still emerging, like usable qudits or programmable quantum simulators.

Combined with the progress in creating 1,000+ qubit systems, this shows that quantum computing will likely be a very important scientific field in the upcoming decades, with tremendous untapped potential.

Currently, research in material science or biochemistry is being boosted by AI, something we discussed in our article Disruptive Industries Coalescing Around a Core Technology Artificial Intelligence (AI).

But soon, in the next 5-10 years, we might start seeing practical results of quantum computing calculations. The hardware is now moving from thought experiments and lab demonstrators to prototypes of commercial research computers.

The next step will be developing software that can maximize the potential of quantum computingand starting to produce at-scale quantum computers to decrease costs and provide some standardization.

So, in many ways, quantum computing is at the stage where the first commercial computer mainframes were coming out in the 1950s and 1960s before becoming a common business and research tool in the following decades.

While hard to fully predict, we already know a few segments that will benefit greatly from quantum computing becoming more widely available:

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was the leading force behind the commercialization of the first mainframe computer. However, it has fallen behind other tech giants like Apple, TSMC, and NVIDIA.

It is, however, at the forefront of the development of quantum computers. For example, it developed its 127-qubit Eagle quantum computer, which was followed by a 433-qubit system known as Osprey.

And this is now followed by Condor, a 1,121 superconducting qubit quantum processorbased on cross-resonance gate technology, together with Heron, a quantum processor at the very edge of the field.

Finally, IBM released Qiskit 1.0 in February 2024, the most popular quantum computing SDK, with improvements in circuit construction, compilation times, and memory consumption compared to earlier releases.

Looking forward, IBM has already announced its next major goal in anticipation of its current quantum chips outgrowing' the currently used infrastructure. This goal is known as IBM Quantum System Two'; a modular system that has the potential to support up to 16,632 qubits.

IBM's strength has always been since its inception in developing ultra-powerful supercomputers, a segment of the market overshadowed by the rise of consumer electronics and standardized chips. The emergence of quantum computing is an occasion for IBM to shine again and become a leader in this upcoming important segment of computing for scientific research and large corporation computing needs.

Already a leader in normal cloud services, Microsoft is a pioneer in offering quantum computing cloud services withAzure Quantum. It is entirely possible that most quantum computing in the future will be done by researchers remotely, relying on cloud services like Microsoft's, instead of direct access to their own quantum computer.

This is especially likely as, ultimately, most of the quantum computing applications will be researched by biochemists, material science experts, climate scientists, and other specialists with no specific background in quantum computing. So relying upon dedicated professionals working at firms like IBM, Microsoft, or Google to handle the computing part makes more sense than hiring or training people strangers to the field.

The service can also offer hybrid computing, mixing quantum computing with traditional cloud-based supercomputer service.

Instead of vertical integration, Microsoft's approach to quantum computing has been to establish partnerships with leaders in the field covering virtually all the technologies possible to achieve quantum computing, like IonQ(IONQ), Pasqal, Quantinuum, QCI(QUBT), and Rigetti(RGTI).

Quantum computing is not central to Microsoft's business, at least for now. It is nevertheless a central actor of the sector and might make for a safer stock pick over directly acquiring shares of its quantum computing partners that are publicly traded, like QCI or Rigetti.

Google is very active in quantum computing, mostly through its Google Quantum AI lab and Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara.

Google's quantum computer made history in 2019 when Google claimed to have achieved quantum supremacy with its Sycamore machine, performing a calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken a conventional supercomputer 10,000 years.

But maybe the greatest contribution of Google will be in software, an activity where it has a much better track record than hardware (search, GSuit, Android, etc.). Already, Google's Quantum AI makes available a suite of software designed to assist scientists in developing quantum algorithms.

Google might likely be one of the companies setting the standards of quantum computing software & programming, giving a privileged place to direct where the field will evolve in the future.

Quantinuum is the result of the merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum (and, as mentioned, a partner of Microsoft quantum cloud computing).

Quantinuum seems, for now, to focus on segments less explored by other quantum computing systems, notably financial and supply chain-related analyses, through its Quantum Monte Carlo Integration (QMCI) engine, launched in September 2023.

QMCI applies to problems that have no analytic solution, such as pricing financial derivatives or simulating the results of high-energy particle physics experiments, and promises computational advances across business, energy, supply chain logistics, and other sectors.

Like for Microsoft, quantum computing is not the central part of Honeywell's business, more centered around products in aerospace, automation, and specialty chemicals & materials.

However, considering every single one of these business segments could benefit from quantum computing, it is not hard to see the business case for Honeywell to get involved.

So this makes Honeywell both a provider of quantum computing services and one of the companies that could benefit from the application of quantum computers to real-life business cases, something the integration of Quantinuum into the group should help foster at a quicker pace than its industrial competitors.

Intel is a major chip producer and seems to target to leverage this strength into the quantum computing arena.

It recently released Tunnel Falls, the most advanced silicon spin qubit chip. What is remarkable is that it is not a prototype but a chip built at scale, with a 95% yield rate across the wafer and voltage uniformity. This opens the way to mass production of quantum computing chips, something for now elusive in a nascent and quickly changing industry.

Faithful to its roots, Intel is also developing the software to utilize its chips, with the release of the Intel Quantum SDK. This provides the guideline for programmers to develop software for quantum computing compatible with Intel quantum chip design, which has historically been a very strong & profitable business moat for Intel's conventional chip business.

The arrival of scalable quantum chip manufacturing could be as revolutionary for the industry as any other more technical scientific breakthrough, bringing down costs, and setting common programming standards and chip architectures.

Intel is a company that knows from experience how strong of a force this can be in the computing industry, still riding on the tail of its innovations and associated patents from the 1960s onward.

The quantum computing sector is still very young. It has so far been mostly taken over by large tech corporations with deep enough pockets to finance billions of dollars into this sort of fundamental research.

However, many other smaller companies are also active in the field, some partnering with said giants to deploy their technology.

It can be a rather difficult task for non-specialist investors to understand the intricacy of the different quantum computing technologies, even more guessing which will be commercially successful.

So, while direct investment in small quantum computing startups is an option, another is to rely on an ETF to get exposure to the sector while diversifying at a lower cost.

The Defiance Quantum ETF contains 69 different stocks related to quantum computing in its holdings, including quantum computer & chip developers, as well as suppliers of cooling systems, lasers, software, and other technology used in quantum computers or quantum chip production.

In this quickly evolving field, most investors, even those familiar with the semiconductor industry, will probably benefit from a degree of diversification. So this can be achieved either by betting on individual tech giants making the right partnership choices or with a wide array of stocks, something often more efficiently achieved through a dedicated ETF.

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The Current State of Quantum Computing - Securities.io

The race for quantum computing dominance is on.

In fact,according to SDXCentral.com, the U.S. and China are neck and neck at the moment. The U.S. has already committed $3 billion in funding for quantum computing, with another $12 billion coming from the National Quantum Computing Initiative. China is committing about $15 billion over the next five years. This is all great news for quantum computing stocks.

Even the U.K., Canada, Israel, Australia, Japan, and the European Union are jumping into the quantum computing market. As the race picks up, the quantum computing market could grow from $928.8 million this year to more than $6.5 billion by 2030,as noted by Fortune Business Insights.

All of this could be a substantial catalyst for the following quantum computing stocks.

Source: Amin Van / Shutterstock.com

Earlier this month, IonQ (NYSE:IONQ), trading at $10.27, was highlighted.

While its up slightly at $10.87, give this one a good deal of patience. On Feb. 1, the company just boosted itsfull-year revenue guidanceto a range of $21.2 million to $22 million from its prior range of $18.9 million to $19.3 million. It also boosted its full-year bookings to a new range of $60 million to $63 million from a prior range of $49 million to $56 million.

Quantum computing has the potential to be a game changer it can help us create new drugs and fight disease, turbocharge clean energy alternatives, and improve food production,according toWashington State U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, as quoted in a IONQ press release.

Further, IonQ just opened its firstquantum computing manufacturing facility in Washington.

The company inaugurated the first U.S.-based factory producing replicable quantum computers for client data centers, enhancing technology innovation and manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest. CEO Peter Chapman highlighted IonQs commitment to commercializing quantum computing,added Investorplace contributor Chris MacDonald.

Source: T. Schneider / Shutterstock

Recently reported, D-Wave Quantum(NYSE:QBTS) traded at 85 cents. Yet, after hitting a high of $2.08 on Feb. 15, its now back to $1.74 and is still a strong opportunity.

Forcing QBTS higher, the company said its1,200+ qubit Advantage2 prototypewas now available. Also, it partnered with industrialgenerative AI company Zapata AI. It will develop and market commercial applications, combining the power of generative AI and quantum computing technologies.In addition, it just announced that it andNEC Australiaare teaming to release two new quantum services in the Australian market.

Source: Bartlomiej K. Wroblewski / Shutterstock.com

Recently, Rigetti Computing(NASDAQ:RGTI) popped from about $1.20 to $1.69 a share on heavy volume. For example, last Friday, volume spiked to 19.24 million, as compared to daily average volume of 3.86 million shares.

Further, the company wasawarded a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI)grantfrom Innovate UK and funded by the National Quantum Computing Centre(NQCC) to develop and deliver a quantum computer to the NQCC.

The proposed system will feature the hallmarks of Rigettis recently launched 84-qubit Ankaa-2 system, including tunable couplers and a square lattice, as noted in a company press release. This new chip architecture enables faster gate times, higher fidelity, and greater connectivity compared to Rigettis previous generations of quantum processing units (QPUs).

On the date of publication, Ian Cooper did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.comPublishing Guidelines.

Ian Cooper, a contributor to InvestorPlace.com, has been analyzing stocks and options for web-based advisories since 1999.

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3 Quantum Computing Stocks That Could Be Multibaggers in the Making: February Edition - InvestorPlace

Over the years, several players have emerged in the quantum computing market, offering a variety of approaches to the technology.

From trapped ions to photonic or superconducting, these systems all show promise and all face significant challenges to becoming commercially viable.

In this Zero Downtime podcast episode, we are joined by Yuval Boger of QuEra, a neutral atom-based quantum computer company, to talk about the different types of quantum computers and the challenges in making them powerful and accurate enough for widespread adoption and deployment.

In addition, we talk about some of the uses that quantum computing may be more appropriate than traditional supercomputing.

We also discuss some of the practicalities of deploying quantum computers in data centers, with some such systems requiring powerful cooling systems.

So, which type of quantum computer will win out in the end?

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DCD Podcast - The fundamentals of quantum computing, with Yuval Boger, QuEra - DCD - DatacenterDynamics

Apple has confirmed its plans to launch its newest iMessage security protocol, named PQ3, in response to what it claims is a future threat from quantum computers, according to a recent PCMag report.

iMessage currently uses end-to-end encryption, ensuring that messages between the sender and receiver are secure and inaccessible to anyone else, including Apple. However, Apple is concerned that the advancement of quantum computers may soon reach a level where they could decrypt iMessage content. Such powerful quantum computers would presumably also be capable of decrypting messages sent through other apps, such as WhatsApp.

Last year, the Technical University of Denmark stated that although quantum computers are already operational, they lack the power to break end-to-end encryption at present, indicating it may take years to achieve this capability due to their current size limitations.

On Wednesday, Apples Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) team wrote about the evolution of encryption on messaging platforms. They explained that traditionally, platforms have relied on classical public key cryptography methods like RSA, Elliptic Curve signatures, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange to secure end-to-end encrypted connections. These methods are grounded in complex mathematical problems that were once deemed too challenging for computers to solve, even with advancements predicted by Moores law.

The SEAR team highlighted, however, that the advent of quantum computing could shift this balance. They noted that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could solve these classical mathematical problems in fundamentally different ways, potentially fast enough to compromise the security of encrypted communications.

The team also raised concerns about future threats, stating that while current quantum computers cant decrypt data protected by these methods, adversaries might store encrypted data now with the intention of decrypting it later using more advanced quantum technology. This strategy, known as Harvest Now, Decrypt Later, underscores the potential long-term vulnerabilities in current encryption techniques against the backdrop of quantum computings rapid development.

As a result, the tech giant has created PQ3, which it says has been built from the ground up to redesign iMessage from a security standpoint, adding a third level of protection to its end users.

PQ3 is expected to launch in March with iOS 17.4, as well as iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4 and watchOS 10.4.

The simultaneous rollout across multiple Apple operating systems underscores the companys commitment to addressing the future threat quantum computers pose to end-to-end encryption. Apple is taking proactive steps to ensure that iMessage users on iPhones, tablets, computers, and wearables receive protection as swiftly as possible.

Featured Image: Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

James Jones is a highly experienced journalist, podcaster and digital publishing specialist, who has been creating content in a variety of forms for online publications in the sports and tech industry for over 10 years. He has worked at some of the leading online publishers in the country, most recently as the Content Lead for Snack Media's expansive of portfolio of websites, including Football Fancast.com, FootballLeagueWorld.co.uk and GiveMeSport.com. James has also appeared on several national and global media outlets, including BBC News, talkSPORT, LBC Radio, 5 Live Radio, TNT Sports, GB News and BBCs Match of the Day 2. James has a degree in Journalism and previously held the position of Editor-in-Chief at FootballFanCast.com. Now, he co-hosts the popular We Are West Ham Podcast, writes a weekly column for BBC Sport and covers the latest news in the industry for ReadWrite.com.

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Apple to launch PQ3 update for iMessage, bolstering encryption against quantum computing - ReadWrite

In a new and exciting interview feature, AZoQuantum discusses the quantum race in Ireland with IDA Ireland Chief Technologist John Durcan. Welook at how research and development is being spurred within the region as well as John's ambitions and predictions for the future.

My name is John Durcan, and in my role as Chief Technologist in the Technology division for IDA Ireland, I work with many of the global technology companies, exploring new opportunities for R&D in Ireland and working to enhance industry and academic collaboration in new areas of research. My own background is in the area of Computer Science, and currently, my four key technology areas of focus are Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI), Semiconductors, Quantum computing and Cyber Security.

I am very much passionate about the latest trends in the technology landscape and quantum computing is poised to be one of the biggest trends at the moment, with new tools and developments emerging at pace.

Yes, there has certainly been significant progress in the field of quantum computing in recent years, particularly with hardware and algorithms. For example, in 2019, Google claimed to have achieved Quantum Supremacy by performing a computation that would normally take classical supercomputers thousands of years to complete. This was a major milestone that demonstrated the potential of quantum computers to outperform classical counterparts for specific tasks.

We are also seeing major technology companies and research institutions developing quantum processors with an increasing number of qubits, which is enhancing their capabilities. Late last year, IBM took the record for the largest quantum computing system witha processor that contained 433 qubits, and they announced a roadmap to build an error-corrected quantum computer by 2030.

Additionally, we have also seen advancements when it comes to quantum networks that hold the promise of unhackable communication and distributed quantum computing. In particular, were seeing the progression of quantum communication due to the development of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols, which will enable the secure transmission of information and programs such as the EuroQCI (European Quantum Communication Infrastructure), which Ireland is involved in.

This gives access to industry and academia for R&D, thus providing great new opportunities for any company looking to access such a resource.

There has recently been a surge in research and development in quantum computing primarily because it offers the potential to solve complex problems that are currently beyond the capabilities of classical computers. This opens a world of new opportunities across all sectors of the industry.

As a result of this potential, we are witnessing breakthroughs in fields such as Cryptography, drug discovery, material science and optimisation. Operating on the principles of quantum mechanics, this technology utilises qubits to execute computations at unprecedented speeds.

Image Credit:solarseven/Shutterstock.com

Nevertheless, the global landscape of quantum computing is continuing to evolve in several countries including Ireland, which is positioning itself to build on the successful tech sector here. For example, in the startup world, we have a company called Equal 1 developing groundbreaking quantum silicon that integrates entire quantum computing systems onto a single chip and on the FDI side, Horizon Quantum Computing opened their first European office in Dublin with the focus on developing the software tools for the world of quantum computing.

Government-funded research groups are vital in the development of quantum computing, particularly in Ireland, which continues to enhance its position in quantum computing research and development. In November 2023, the Irish Government published a national strategy for quantum research.

The report Quantum 2030 A National Quantum Technologies Strategy for Ireland found that nine of the top ten global software companies and three of the top four internet companies have significant operations in Ireland. The report describes Ireland as being ideally situated to capitalise on quantum for industry, noting the potential for quantum technologies in computing, communication, simulation, and sensing.

The country boasts several research institutions, including Trinity College Dublin, which hosts the Centre for Quantum Engineering and Science. Theres also the Trinity Quantum Alliance (TQA) which was launched in 2023. The TQA is a collaboration with Trinity, Microsoft, IBM, Horizon Quantum Computing, Algorithmiq and Moodys Analytics; that brings together experts from research and industry for innovative projects in quantum science and technology, simulation, education, and computation.

The TQA is the catalyst for investment in quantum technology in Ireland with the ultimate goal to construct a vibrant ecosystem to the benefit of various industry sectors and it is already bringing in results. A great example of this involves Trinitys quantum physicists' collaboration with IBM Dublin, who have successfully simulated super diffusion in a system of interacting quantum particles on a quantum computer, which is the first step in doing highly challenging quantum transport calculations on quantum hardware.

Additionally, Ireland's Walton Institute, is also a hub for quantum research and innovation, also plays a pivotal role in the country's quantum leadership as it fosters quantum advancements.

Id say that the fintech sector will experience the most impact. Ireland has an opportunity to build on the deep technical expertise built up over the years. For example, we have Mastercard with their only European Tech Hub based in Ireland, who are partnering with corporate and academic players in Ireland and around the globe to explore quantum computing applications in financial and payment use cases. Fidelity Investments Ireland has built a quantum team in their Fidelity Center for Applied Technology lab in Dublin, a blue skies research lab that looks at future emerging technologies with a 510-year ROI timeframe.

We are starting to see collaborations across sectors such as IBM Research Europe Dublin and Mastercard Ireland working on a quantum subgraph isomorphism algorithm that could distinguish between money laundering schemes and legitimate business enterprises.

The life sciences industry is another sector that will most benefit from quantum. Currently, there is the idea that quantum will be able to help find new chemical compounds. The reason why quantum is wanted for this is because chemical compounds are quite complex when they are being built, and the complexities increase as the compounds grow. It would take months or years for a classical computer to monitor this process, compared to quantum, which should be able to do this in a much shorter period of time. We're starting to see this in drug discovery as well, with most recently seeing AI being used to help source new antibiotics.

The industry is also looking at the opportunities for quantum to help in material sciences, as it could be very relevant to the semiconductor sector. Theres a possibility that quantum can help look at these new materials for engineering, which in turn will help with superconductivity that is related to the high transfer of energy with lower energy loss.

Despite the remarkable advancements, quantum computing faces substantial challenges. Quantum states are delicate and easily disrupted by their environment, which can lead to errors. To help eradicate this, error correction codes and quantum error correction techniques, such as surface codes and topological qubits, are being developed to mitigate the impact of errors and increase the reliability of quantum computations.

Additionally, quantum systems exhibit interference phenomena, where qubits' superpositions interfere destructively or constructively, affecting computation outcomes. However, techniques to control and mitigate interference are currently being explored.

Regional Spotlight: The Quantum Race in Ireland

The development of quantum computing and the maintenance involved is costly, which is why research efforts also include how hardware costs can be reduced and resource allocation optimised. Also, building large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers is a significant challenge. To help overcome this challenge, quantum annealing, and trapped ion technologies are being explored to create scalable quantum architectures.

Quantum computing requires a specialised skill set. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of quantum companies are currently hiring and they struggle to find people with the right skill set. Most current jobs are highly technical, and the only people trained in the field of quantum technologies are highly academic.

Educational programs and partnerships between academia and industry in countries like Ireland are helping to address the shortage of quantum experts. Currently, the IBM fellowship program in Ireland is aiming to achieve PhD status as this level of education is needed due to quantum still being relatively new. Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, which works with industry to develop skills of the future, has developed two programs:

The most important factor in being able to accelerate the expansion of the current talent base is ensuring that the PhD programs are aimed at encouraging Physics students to move into the world of quantum and showing them that there is an academic path to follow, whilst increasing the number of sponsored PhD quantum research programs which I can see happening over the next couple of years. This should give enough time for degree and masters physics programs to start incorporating quantum.

One of the challenges with getting people to take up quantum computing is to do with the case of classical IT, data, and computer coding which all pay well and are much easier to get into, but it also creates an opportunity here in Ireland. Currently, the Software Development in Ireland industry is valued at 61.4bn and is ranked 2nd in the EU with 33,000+ Software Developers. If one started with just a 1% conversion through targeted programmes, this could give the potential of 300+ Quantum Software engineers to get involved from an early stage and help demonstrate the potential for industry use cases.

Quantum computing holds tremendous promise for solving complex problems and transforming various industries. As the field continues to advance, addressing challenges related to error correction, scalability, and workforce development will be essential.

I would say Ireland has a great opportunity to build on its strengths in technology, Fintech and Life science which are all key areas of interest for Quantum. We can for example, lead opportunities for collaboration across Europe by leveraging growing funding supports out of the EU, such as Horizon Europe and the Quantum Flagship.

When one looks at opportunities for new business, the European Scaleup Institute found Ireland has the highest concentration of High-Growth Firms (HGFs) and hypergrowers (in proportion to overall companies in the country), so perhaps we could see some of these in the world of quantum. It is an exciting time ahead.

More information is available at https://www.idaireland.com/.

John Durcan is Chief Technologist at IDA Ireland, the national investment development agency for Ireland.IDA Ireland partners with companies worldwide to provide financial assistance, on-the-ground support and advice to help them establish and transform their operations in Ireland.Durcans current key focus areas are artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, cyber security and the semiconductor sector. Please connect with him at[emailprotected]orwww.idaireland.com.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited (T/A) AZoNetwork, the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and Conditions of use of this website.

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How is Quantum Technology Developing in Ireland? A Conversation with John Durcan, IDA Ireland - AZoQuantum