32 COMPUTING COMPUTING 33 Quantum Computing’s the unusual behavior of atomic and sub-atomic particles to perform far Potential more complex calculations at a mas- sively increased speed compared to The technology’s impact on business will be discussed at the World today’s computers. Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos Some companies, like German auto manufacturer Volkswagen, are already cooperating with Google and D-Wave Systems, a Canadian quantum compu- ting pioneer, to use the technology to try and handle large optimization is- In October Google and NASA an- sues, such as simultaneously charting “When we talk about material nounced that they have achieved the best route for vehicles in cities like ‘quantum supremacy’, i.e. the ability Beijing and Lisbon, a puzzle that would design, drug design, portfolio of quantum computers to perform be too tough for normal computers. certain tasks that a classical compu- If industry pundits are right the best is optimization in finance and risk ter simply cannot do in a reasonable yet to come. Productivity gains by end timeframe. They claimed that their users of quantum computing, in the analysis for insurance com- quantum computer solved a problem form of both cost savings and revenue in 200 seconds that would take the opportunities, are expected to surpass panies, these are areas where world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 $450 billion annually, within the next years. couple of decades, according to aMay While critics say the problem that 2019 study by Boston Consulting there are strong indications was solved was without any practical Group. A precipitous breakthrough in merits or implications, the Google the technology could happen at any that quantum computers will experiment demonstrated the huge time, warns the study, so companies potential of quantum computing, should start experimenting now. revolutionize the market.” a form of computing that taps into A view of the quantum computing technology being developed by Austria’s AQT. RIGETTI COMPUTING QUINTESSENCELABS IQM PSIQ AQT (Alpine Quantum Technologies) UNITED STATES AUSTRALIA FINLAND UNITED STATES AUSTRIA WHAT IT DOES WHAT IT DOES WHAT IT DOES WHAT IT DOES WHAT IT DOES STARTUPS Builds quantum computers and Named a 2018 World Economic Developing a unique IP that aims Building a general purpose sili- Produces ion-trap quantum pro- the superconducting quantum Forum Technology Pioneer, it to make quantum processors of con photonic quantum computer. cessors, and offers access to its TO processors that power them. is developing cybersecurity much better quality by reducing PsiQ believes it can harness pho- quantum computers via a cloud WATCH Its quantum computers are avai- solutions for the era of quantum the number of physical qubits tonics to build a commercially service. AQT supports both lable to users through Amazon computing. needed to build powerful quan- viable quantum computer much Cirq and Qiskit, the two most Braket, an Amazon Web Services tum computers. sooner than competitors using prominent quantum computing solution that allows researchers more common approaches. programming languages. and developers to begin expe- rimenting with computers from quantum hardware providers in a single place. rigetti.com quintessencelabs.com meetiqm.com psiquantum.com aqt.eu