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What's after AI? The next watershed technology could be quantum computing - ABC News
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
Posted: April 9, 2024 at 12:56 pm
An Atom Computing employee engaged in work on a computer screen.
This story is part of CNBC's quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and employees.
Imagine a world where computers solve problems billions of times faster than today's machines can, ushering in a new era of scientific discovery.
That's the promise of quantum technology and a fierce race is underway to unlock its potential. In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the Denver-Boulder region is emerging as a global leader in this revolution.
Atom Computing is based in the San Francisco area, but CEO Rob Hays told CNBC in a recent interview why his quantum company chose the city of Boulder for its new $100 million facility: the region's thriving ecosystem.
"The future looks really bright for us here. We've built two of the largest quantum computers on the planet," Hays said in CNBC's primetime special "Cities of Success: Denver & Boulder," which airs April 11 at 10 p.m. ET. "The fact that we've been able to do that in 18 months is pretty remarkable."
In Denver, Maybell Quantum, another key player in the industry, is building a super refrigerator that chills atoms to extreme temperatures three times colder than the coldest part of Antarctica.
"It's 10 millikelvin," said Maybell Quantum CEO Corban Tillemann-Dick.That equates to negative 441.67 degrees Fahrenheit.
Why so cold? The frigid conditions are essential for quantum computers to operate.The supercooled environment helps minimize even the tiniest vibrations that can disrupt a quantum chip's delicate subatomic calculations.
Just like semiconductors fueled powerful computers and networking devices that made today's complex internet possible, Tillemann-Dick said the next big thing could be quantum technology.
"This technology is going to be as important to the next 100 years as semiconductors [were to] the internet or cellular technology. It'll transform everything from medicine to defense to agriculture," he said.
The CEO said he envisions data centers filled with rows of quantum computers tackling the world's most pressing problems.
"There will come a time not too far in the future you will walk into a data center and there will be thousands of [quantum computers] lined up just like you have servers today, working on workloads from all over the world to solve these critical problems," he said.
Physicist Richard Feynman is credited with pioneering the idea of quantum computing in the 1980s. It's come a long way since then. According to McKinsey, the four industries that are poised to see the biggest boost from quantum computing automotive, chemicals, financial services and life sciences are expected to reach $1.3 trillion in value by 2035.
Helping Colorado in the boom, the Biden-Harris administration recently designated the Denver-Aurora region as one of 31 "Tech Hubs" in the United States. This designation is part of a program to invest in regions with high potential for growth in key technology sectors.
Leading the charge to solidify Colorado's position as a quantum leader is Elevate Quantum Colorado, a private-public consortium of more than 100 organizations including the University of Colorado Boulder and other higher education institutions, state and local governments, federal labs and private companies.
"The idea is to create Silicon Valleys where there aren't Silicon Valleys today against the most important technologies of our time," said Zachary Yerushalmi, Elevate Quantum Colorado's CEO.
Yerushalmi noted that federal designation positions the state to become one of only a handful of quantum hubs nationwide.
"We competed against 400 applicants across the nation, and we're fortunate to be selected as one of three," Yerushalmi explained. "This is where things really get hot we're competing for $70 million from the federal government."
Only a handful of hubs will be selected to receive the funding and Yerushlalmi says he's optimistic of their chances, expecting a decision later this year.
Meanwhile, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a firm believer in quantum's potential, is upping the stakes. In February, his administration unveiled plans to invest an additional $74 million into the quantum industry over five to nine years if Colorado is one of the regions selected to receive federal funding.
"I'm bullish on quantum tech," Polis told CNBC in a recent interview. "I think its time has come."
TUNE IN: The "Cities of Success" special featuring Denver and Boulder will air on CNBC on April 11 at 10 p.m. ET.
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Quantum rush: Denver-Boulder area aims to be the Silicon Valley of the future - NBC 6 South Florida
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
Posted: April 9, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Quantinuum scientists make adjustments to a beam-line array used to deliver laser pulses in quantum computers. (Quantinuum Photo)
Microsoft and Quantinuum say theyve demonstrated a quantum computing system that can reduce the error rate for data processing by a factor of 800.
Today signifies a major achievement for the entire quantum ecosystem, Jason Zander, Microsofts executive vice president for strategic missions and technologies, said in a blog posting about the achievement.
Quantum computing could solve certain types of problems ranging from data encryption and system optimization to the development of new synthetic materials on a time scale that would be unachievable using classical computers. Scaled quantum computers would offer the ability to simulate the interactions of molecules and atoms at the quantum level beyond the reach of classical computers, unlocking solutions that can be a catalyst for positive change in our world, Zander said.
The secret to success lies in quantum bits, or qubits, that can represent multiple values until the results of a computation are read out. Qubits typically make use of exotic materials, such as superconducting circuits, diamonds with defects or laser-cooled ions.
One big challenge is that qubits tend to be noisy that is susceptible to perturbations that introduce errors. For years, researchers have been hunting for ways to maintain the fidelity of qubits and correct any errors that arise. Such strategies typically involve linking up multiple physical qubits to represent a single logical qubit.
Just a couple of years ago, Microsoft researchers were saying that a quantum computer would need at least a million physical qubits in order to demonstrate an advantage over classical computers. But thats because it was thought that thousands of physical qubits would be required to produce a single logical qubit. If fewer physical qubits are required for error correction, that would make it easier to build useful quantum computers.
The newly reported demonstration addresses that challenge: Microsoft and Quantinuum said they created four highly reliable logical qubits from just 30 physical qubits.
With this system, we ran more than 14,000 individual experiments without an error, Zander said.
In a technical blog posting, Microsofts Dennis Tom and Krysta Svore wrote that they used a qubit-virtualization system to improve the reliability of Quantinuums ion-trap hardware by a factor of 800. Tom is general manager of Azure Quantum, and Svore is Microsofts vice president of advanced quantum development.
An 800x improvement in error rate corresponds to a 29 dB improvement of signal, which is the same as that achieved with a high-quality noise-canceling headset, Tom and Svore said.
The comparison is particularly apt: Activating the noise-canceling function on the headphones to listen to music, while removing most of the environmental noise, is akin to applying our qubit-virtualization system, the researchers said.
Microsoft takes a hybrid approach to cloud-based computing, which combines the strengths of classical supercomputing and quantum processing. Zander said the application of Microsofts qubit-virtualization system moves us out of the current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) level to Level 2 Resilient quantum computing.
Advanced capabilities based on these logical qubits will be available in private preview for Azure Quantum Elements customers in the coming months, he said.
Microsoft is already looking ahead to the next level.
At Level 3, we expect to be able to solve some of our most challenging problems, particularly in fields like chemistry and materials science, unlocking new applications that bring quantum at scale together with the best of classical supercomputing and AI all connected in the Azure Quantum cloud, Zander said.
Microsoft isnt the only tech company reporting progress on the quantum frontier. Heres a roundup of other recent developments in the field:
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Microsoft and Quantinuum report a way to turn down the noise in quantum computing - GeekWire
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
Posted: April 9, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Young Chris Ballance was something of an engineering menace, always obsessed with finding out how things work. Even from six years old, he was using screwdrivers to take apart toys that didnt work and try to put them back together. This insatiable appetite for engineering and discovery has been a thread throughout his life.
Pursuing physics in his undergraduate studies, the field of quantum computing scratched an itch for Ballance, because it was something truly novel that had the promise to actually make a difference. Something that in a few years can go from a glimmer of hope all the way through to defining the state of the art, something that nobody else has done before: I found that incredibly exciting.
After obtaining his PhD in Oxford in 2014, Ballance has been at the forefront of developing new techniques and technologies to manipulate qubits at sufficient scale to build useful quantum computers. He hasnt stopped pushing the boundaries of quantum computing during his research, setting new world records, including the highest performance quantum logic gates, the longest qubit memory coherence time, and the fastest and highest performance quantum network.
Intriguingly, it was always clear to Dr Ballance that at some point his work would evolve into a spin-out company. Even though I couldnt have vocalised that at that point, I knew that success for me wouldnt be just sitting in a lab thinking this could be incredibly exciting. I knew I would want to follow the work all the way through to making an impact on peoples lives.
In 2019, Dr Ballance co-founded his company Oxford Ionics with his colleague of many years, Dr Tom Harty.Together, they had been working at the forefront of quantum computing for almost a decade at Oxford University Physics, where they both earned their PhDs, and where Dr Ballance retains a lead research role pushing new boundaries in one of the most exciting areas of physics and innovation.
The magic of the techniques weve developed allows us to marry the ability to build out large scale chips, whilst being able to trap and control the individual atoms in a perfectly quantum way.
Dr Chris Ballance
Before you even get down to the technical details, there is one fundamental challenge with quantum computing. As Dr Ballance explains quite simply, Nature doesnt like to be quantum.
Most have heard of Schrodingers Cat, who lives in a box and is famously both dead and alive until we open the box and check. However, these seemingly absurd quantum phenomena are never seen in real life. Cats are very firmly either dead or alive, not both.
Dr Ballance says, When youre building a quantum computer, youre really trying to build Schrodingers Cat atom by atom, and maintain it in a quantum state.
The unique power of quantum computing is that its fundamental building blocks, the qubits, can harness these quantum superpositions and be in multiple states at once. Classical computer bits, on the other hand, are distinctly either a zero or a one.
Dr Ballance explains, The magic of the techniques weve developed allows us to marry the ability to build out large scale chips, whilst being able to trap and control the individual atoms in a perfectly quantum way.
The quantum states are so well controlled that they have a coherence time of minutes before they collapse, compared to other technologies that only achieve micro or milliseconds. This is essential if these states are to last long enough to be useful to us for instance, in solving problems. As Dr Ballance says: With this approach, you can put the system in a quantum superposition state, go and have a cup of tea and come back, and after 10 minutes or more they are still there.
It is tremendously exciting to build the workplace of ones dreams. We have created a culture that is based around allowing people to be very flexible and achieve their best work.
Dr Chris Ballance
When it comes to the business side of running a tech company, Dr Ballance admits, It is a massive learning experience to go from making something out of chewing gum and toothpicks that looks the part and inspires you, to making reliable robust building blocks you actually build a company out of.
Fortunately, Oxford Ionics mission of building the worlds best quantum computers is an incredibly powerful attractor, such that they now have a collection of some of the best people around the world on this.
The team of around 50 individuals is set to grow exponentially to more than 80 by the end of the year. That includes scientific experts on the foundational theory, people who have built the worlds best chips, and the software engineers; not to mention those with expertise in business, finance, and marketing.
Our view at Oxford Ionics is always that the best perk you can possibly have working in this space is the amazing inspirational people around you, Dr Ballance maintains. If you have that, then you dont need anything else.
2019 was a significant year for Dr Ballance: as well as founding Oxford Ionics, he was also appointed as the Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Physics. When asked how he juggles these two roles, Dr Ballance argues that they are two sides of the same coin. You cant do one without the other. It is a privilege to be in a position where I can do both.
I did ask Dr Ballance what he likes to get up to outside the lab, but it was bold of me to assume he has any free time. I have three children, so at the moment my time is spent chasing them around swimming pools and parks and up trees, he chuckles.
In a beautiful circle of life moment, Dr Ballance is now in his own fathers shoes. My father used to have to check under my bed for cogs and other pieces of toys, and then try and work out where they had come from. I find myself having to do the same with my children, and only allow them access to screwdrivers under supervision. Chip off the old block.
The world of quantum computing is very new and exciting, and entirely foreign to most of us. The big thing we all are curious to find out is what can quantum computers actually do, and how will they affect our lives? Dr Ballance remains humbly but delightedly ignorant.
As with all forms of new technology and computing, what we have seen time and time again is that the killer application is not one youve anticipated he admits.
Probably the most valuable applications of quantum computing are the ones that we havent come across yet. So, the thing I am most looking forward to is giving people access to these new forms of computer and seeing what they can do with them.
Dr Chris Ballance
For example, the first classical computers were built to solve problems that could in principle be solved by hand, but would simply take too long and were liable to human error. This is a far cry from where computing is now, with internet banking, animated films, and social media: applications no one could have ever predicted back in the 20th century.
The same is true for quantum computing. We already have a list of things we think quantum computers will allow us to do, from materials discovery and drug development to better aerodynamic modelling or financial portfolio optimisation. But this might be just the tip of the iceberg.
Dr Ballance theorises, Probably the most valuable applications are the ones that we havent come across yet, but will come with the second and third revolutions. So, the thing I am most looking forward to is giving people access to these new forms of computer and seeing what they can do with them.
Beyond Oxford Ionics, Dr Ballance thinks that the UK is in a well thought-through position. Our country was one of the first to set up a national quantum strategy way back in 2014, which has since set an example for the EU and the US.
Now the UK has started properly investing, there is a wonderful crop of fledgeling quantum companies like ours he explains, animatedly. The question is whether the technology in 510 years time stays in the UK or if, like many other technologies, it ends up getting disseminated across lots of other countries. The UKs investment in quantum is great: and it needs to be done with sufficient conviction to make sure it continues.
Quantum computing is already starting to take off internationally as well. Dr Ballance and his colleagues regularly attend international summits which are increasingly attracting more than just researchers. Big Pharma companies and world-leading banks are often present too, keen to come and ascertain the benefits that quantum computing could bring to them.
One of the great things about being a scientist is going around and telling everyone all the amazing work you are doing he grins. It is really wonderful to watch the field grow and have more and more people brought in.
When it comes to quantum computing, the difficulties of working out how the different pieces integrate together are good old-fashioned engineering challenges that can be solved with good old-fashioned engineering techniques.
Dr Chris Ballance
In 1991, when Dr Ballance was just a child, the first ideas of quantum algorithms were just beginning to be explored at Oxford. Then in 2010, when he began his PhD, the science was ready for Dr Ballance and his team to generate the highest performing qubits and the best entanglement of any physical system, achieving error rates low enough to solve practical problems. And now, the systems have been so well iterated, developed, and refined, that he can build up chips with routinely high performance.
It has all snowballed from a few small research grants for a few small bits of weird theory, 40 years before the impact was really felt, he says.
This idea of blue-sky research is a story that we see playing out time and time again across research. Stuff that seems completely out there 20 years ago eventually translates into cool experimental science, which in another 20 years transforms into fully-fledged companies and industries.
He highlights the vital importance of early-stage funding to get these ideas off the ground and generate these industries. Theres no way of skipping that long-term investment if we want pioneers of new technology to get their ideas into the world.
It is immensely gratifying for Dr Ballance to see the work that he has believed in for the last 15 years reach an inflection point and begin to make a tangible difference. He believes the phrase its an overnight success that took 10 years is definitely applicable.
A tremendous amount of blue-sky research over the past two decades is now taking off, and over the next few years quantum computing will go from being a mere scientific curiosity to an everyday piece of the computing landscape.
You can find out more about Oxford Ionics on their website.
You can discover more on the pioneering research by Dr Ballance and others at Oxford University Physics Department on their website here.
See original here:
Dr Chris Ballance, quantum computings up-and-coming star - University of Oxford
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
Posted: April 9, 2024 at 12:56 pm
The quantum computing industry is still in its relatively early stages, which means many companies in this space could be trading at attractive valuations compared to their long-term growth potential. This provides opportunities for the most undervalued quantum computing stocks to buy in April.
One reason for undervaluation is the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the timeline for widespread commercialization and adoption of quantum computing. Some big brands, such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and IBM (NYSE:IBM), might not be considered undervalued given that they are blue-chips in their own right. Investors should explore more speculative names for the best bargains.
Additionally, many prominent quantum computing players are still pre-revenue or in the early stages of generating meaningful sales. Traditional valuation metrics like price-to-earnings may not yet be applicable, leaving investors to rely more on future growth projections, which can be difficult to assess accurately.
However, the most undervalued quantum computing stocks to buy in April could be long term winners. Here are three companies to consider.
IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) focuses exclusively on quantum computing, offering quantum computing systems across major public cloud services. With a market cap of around 1.9 billion, its also small enough to ride the ups and downs of the market while still being robust enough to withstand volatility. It also means there could be plenty of upside, which may make it undervalued.
For 2024, IONQ has set its revenue expectations between $37 million and $41 million, with bookings projected to range from $70 million to $90 million. However, the company anticipates an adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately $110.5 million. Its EBITDA loss helps make it undervalued. In the long term, its prospects are attractive.
In terms of valuation, it trades at a forward price-to-sales multiple of 47 times sales. Still, this is relatively low compared to analysts long-term revenue growth rate, which is another hint of trading below its intrinsic value.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) specializes in developing quantum integrated circuits and a cloud platform for quantum algorithms.
RGTI could be one of the most undervalued quantum computing stocks on this list, as its market cap is just 219 million at the time of writing, so theres substantial room for it to head higher. Its forward P/E ratio of 13 times sales underlines this undervalued nature.
Financially, theres also some evidence that RGTI could be undervalued, and the companys best is yet to come.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, RGTI reported revenues of $3.4 million, a decrease from $6.1 million in 2022. The gross margin stood at 75%, slightly declining from 87% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The net loss for Q4 2023 improved to $12.6 million, or $0.09 per share, from a net loss of $22.9 million, or $0.19 per share.
Source: Tada Images / Shutterstock.com
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), with its AWS Braket service, provides a platform for experimenting with quantum computing. I think that AMZN could be one of the most undervalued FAANG stocks and one of the most underappreciated quantum players in the quantum computing industry.
AWS Braket is designed to speed up scientific research and software development for quantum computing. It particularly stands out with the launch of IonQ Aria, the first Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) on Braket to feature built-in error mitigation techniques.
On the financial front, Amazon demonstrated robust performance in the fourth quarter, reporting record operating profits of $13.2 billion, a substantial increase from the previous years $2.7 billion. Amazons revenue also surged by 14% year-over-year to $169.9 billion.
With many developers already familiar with the tools provided by AWS and its related certifications, it gives it a significant leg up over its competitors, thus making it a strong contender for the top spot in the quantum computing industry.
On the date of publication, Matthew Farley did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Matthew started writing coverage of the financial markets during the crypto boom of 2017 and was also a team member of several fintech startups. He then started writing about Australian and U.S. equities for various publications. His work has appeared in MarketBeat, FXStreet, Cryptoslate, Seeking Alpha, and the New Scientist magazine, among others.
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The 3 Most Undervalued Quantum Computing Stocks to Buy in April 2024 - InvestorPlace
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
Posted: April 9, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Summary: Researchers at UCLAs Center for Quantum Science and Engineering have made strides in optimizing the accuracy of quantum systems through the design of advanced control pulses. By experimenting with composite and adiabatic pulses for single-qubit gates, Kajsa Williams and Louis-S. Bouchard considerably improved the resistance of these systems to control errors, facilitating progress in the field of quantum computing.
Quantum computing, despite its potential, faces significant challenges in maintaining accuracy over extended periods of operation due to errors that arise in complex computations. Researchers from UCLA have contributed a solution to this problem by devising composite and adiabatic pulses that demonstrate elevated tolerance to errors in the controlling fields.
Kajsa Williams and Louis-S. Bouchards research presented in Intelligent Computing explored these innovative design approaches. Their work utilized Qiskit software and the IBM Quantum Experience to simulate and validate their pulse designs on superconducting qubits. Although the proposed pulse designs did not display advantages in containing leakage or seepage compared to conventional ones, they excelled in robustness to control field discrepancies, ensuring nearly tenfold improvement in reliability.
The researchers leveraged Python programming to fine-tune their adiabatic pulse parameters and subsequently executed them on the IBM Quantum Experience platform. Through randomized benchmarking, they confirmed the high robustness of their adiabatic full passage pulses, which are only somewhat longer than standard pulses, thereby maintaining practicality in quantum operations. This advancement paves the way for expanding the scope of quantum computing applications, as it mitigates error accumulation, a prominent hurdle in current quantum technologies.
The Quantum Computing Industry
Quantum computing is a burgeoning industry with the potential to revolutionize various fields by providing computational power far exceeding that of classical computers. As of my last update, IBM, Google, Microsoft, and many other tech giants, as well as startups like Rigetti Computing and IonQ, are actively investing in quantum computing research and development.
The global quantum computing market is projected to grow significantly in the coming decades. Market research reports indicate an increase from a valuation of around several hundred million dollars in the early 2020s to a multi-billion-dollar industry by as early as the end of the decade. This growth is fueled by the promise of quantum computing to tackle tasks that are currently infeasible for classical computers, such as complex material science simulations, optimization problems in logistics, and potentially creating new breakthroughs in drug discovery and development.
Challenges in Quantum Computing
However, the field of quantum computing also faces substantial challenges. Among them is the issue of maintaining qubit coherence for sufficient durations to perform meaningful computations, as well as dealing with quantum error correction. Qubits, the fundamental units of quantum computation, are susceptible to various types of errors due to decoherence and noise, which makes them lose their quantum properties. This is where the work of researchers such as Williams and Bouchard becomes crucial, as their improvements in pulse design increase the fault tolerance of quantum systems.
Market Forecasts and Industry Applications
The advancements in control pulse design are expected to play a vital role in sustaining the projected market growth of the quantum computing industry. Enhanced precision and robustness can lead to more reliable quantum computers, which can then be employed across a variety of sectors including cybersecurity, where they could be used for cracking or securing cryptographic protocols; financial services, for complex optimization and prediction models; and materials science, for discovering new materials with exotic properties.
Moreover, the development of quantum algorithms designed to run on improved hardware could accelerate discovery in sciences like physics, by simulating and understanding quantum phenomena much more precisely, or in chemistry, by accurately simulating molecular interactions for drug discovery.
Issues related to the Quantum Computing Industry and Products
The quantum computing industry must overcome significant technical hurdles before these technologies can be widely adopted. Aside from enhancing system stability and error tolerance, there are other issues, such as the need for ultra-low temperatures in which most superconducting qubits currently operate, thus necessitating complex cryogenic infrastructure. Furthermore, the creation of more accessible programming models and language enhancements to make quantum computing more approachable to a wider variety of developers and researchers is ongoing.
Despite the inevitable challenges, the industry is poised for growth, and the work by researchers like those at UCLAs Center for Quantum Science and Engineering are creating a strong foundation for future advancements. Such progress supports the confidence in market forecasts that anticipate significant expansion and utility of quantum computing across various domains of industry and research in the years to come.
Jerzy Lewandowski, a visionary in the realm of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, has made significant contributions to the field with his pioneering research and innovative designs. His work primarily focuses on enhancing user experience and interaction within virtual environments, pushing the boundaries of immersive technology. Lewandowskis groundbreaking projects have gained recognition for their ability to merge the digital and physical worlds, offering new possibilities in gaming, education, and professional training. His expertise and forward-thinking approach mark him as a key influencer in shaping the future of virtual and augmented reality applications.
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Enhanced Control in Quantum Computing Through Innovative Pulse Design - yTech
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
