So much has been happening on the quantum technology front in recent days that it would be unwise to try to cram it all into one wrap-up story… but we’re going to try anyway:
...We saw a merger announced this week involving D-Wave Systems and DPCM Capital. It’s not a match between two quantum companies, but a teaming of a quantum firm and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the third deal of that type in the quantum sector in less than a year. The deal will provide D-Wave with $340 million in proceeds and a quick path to become a publicly-traded company. D-Wave is interesting in that it traditionally has worked in the area of quantum annealing, a process tailored to specific kinds of optimization problems and that is more readily usable today, but in recent months has indicated it also will build gate-model quantum companies like IBM and others are developing. With such plans, D-Wave probably needed fast access to more funding than most quantum firms are raising these days, and the SPAC deal delivers…
…The Biden White House included several segments of quantum technologies on the Critical and Emerging Technologies list it released this week. A technology landing on this list means it’s either an opportunity for the U.S. to lead innovation, or a threat the country must prepare for–or both. Guess which cam quantum falls into. Funding from government agencies like the Small Business Administration, the Department of Energy, DARPA and others is essential for helping young quantum companies achieve their early milestones, but the federal government also is very aware of the security threat quantum computers pose to the cracking of encryption algorithms. The fed are watching quantum closely, and quantum companies need to watch the feds just as closely to make sure future policy doesn’t hinder long-term development…
…Speaking of federal funding, quantum control engineering firm Q-CTRL announced this week that it gained a $230,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Q-CTRL stated, “Working with Sandia National Laboratories, Q-CTRL is using the grant to build new tools for quantum computer automation via its expertise in machine learning and AI applied to quantum hardware. In addition, the funding will allow Q-CTRL to expand its presence in the US, including growing its current office in Los Angeles…”
…Fierce Electronics recently reported on how Hyundai and quantum computing firm IonQ are working together on a quantum simulation project that they hope will lead to improvements in electric vehicle batteries. This week, IonQ and the Duke Quantum Center at Duke University announced the development of a new family of quantum gates that could speed up and optimize different kinds of quantum algorithms, including the variational quantum eigensolver algorithms tha Hyundai and IonQ are working with…
…Here’s a new use case for AI (not that it needed one): Spotting errors in quantum computing processes to make them less error-prone. New Scientist reports on the early work of using AI to improve quantum computing accuracy, a huge gating factor to quantum computing becoming a much bigger market…
…Quantum dots, similar to very small semiconductor nano-crystals, could be used to develop higher-resolution camera sensors with a variety of use cases, according to this story at Gizmodo…
Watch for Fierce Electronics’ Quantum Update on future Fridays…
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