Quantum computers have the potential to change how many industries operate. However, the technology is still some way off.
One company working to address this is Nu Quantum, a Cambridge-based quantum networking company building the infrastructure required for scaling quantum computers.
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Speaking to Verdict, the company’s CEO and founder Carmen Palacios-Berraquero discusses what that infrastructure looks like, the progress that the company has made on its quantum-based data centre project and how she views the UK’s role in the industry.
What quantum networking infrastructure is essential for scaling quantum computing?
Carmen Palacios-Berraquero: In the same way that AI or cloud data centres or high-performance computer data centres wouldn’t exist without networking infrastructure, quantum computers won’t achieve their potential without networking. This is because the achievable number of qubits in a single quantum processing unit (QPU) is about 1,000. However, to tackle some of the most impactful applications, we need hundreds of thousands or millions of qubits, and that is not likely to be achieved with a single computer or QPU.
We will need data centres of QPUs interconnected together, so they can work collectively as a large quantum computer. The network creates entanglement between these QPUs – the same entanglement that exists between qubits inside the QPU that enables them to operate as one powerful machine.
What is Nu Quantum’s approach, and how does it differ from other quantum infrastructure providers?
Nu Quantum’s technology approach has three key parts. First, there’s our qubit photon interface (QPI). This is the crucial component that extracts photos with high performance from the qubits and launches them into the network, carrying quantum information. This is the equivalent of a network interface card.
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By GlobalDataSecond, is the quantum networking unit (QNU). This system routes the photons from the QPUs, carries out the photonic and entanglement operations and has the control and orchestration infrastructure necessary to create these large, entangled states.
The third and final part is the distributed quantum correction, which takes the entanglement fabric created by the interconnected QPUs and creates logical qubits out of this. The distributed quantum correction enables efficient computation out of assembled hardware pieces, which are weaved together using entanglement.
Our approach is truly unique. We are the first proponents of a large architecture for distributed quantum computers, and we believe that other companies will aim to follow similar architectures in the near future.
What is the current progress on the LYRA data centre project?
The LYRA project is a project sponsored by the UK government with Cisco as a candidate lead-customer and end-user. The purpose of the project is to start to productise our QNU technology.
It is a first-of-its-kind, 19-inch, rack-mounted system containing all the necessary phonics, control and orchestration to network four quantum computing notes. This project has now delivered a prototype that is meeting target specifications on both the optics and the control system.
What role does the UK play in the quantum race?
The UK is one of the leaders in quantum computing worldwide when it comes to the level of investment (both public and private), the number of startups created, the number of patents filed and many other metrics too.
What’s more, the creation of a long-term government-backed strategy for quantum technology means the UK has always been one of the most pioneering countries in the quantum space. Many countries have since followed and adopted this approach in the past decade.
We also have some of the leading computing companies across the stack and it’s a very collaborative ecosystem that is producing the technology propelling the industry forward every year. For example, the best qubits in the world now in terms of fidelity are from Oxford Ionics, Riverlane (which is the leading quantum correction company in the world) and here at Nu Quantum, the leading quantum networking company worldwide.
Where is the quantum computing industry currently at? What developments can we expect in the next decade? What role does Nu Quantum hope to play?
The quantum computing industry is now about eight years old, and so is in its adolescence. We now not only have more mature systems of about 100 qubits that we can deploy in early data centres, but we’ve also achieved fidelity performance metrics that are really close to where we need to reach.
There has also been huge progress made in computational efficiency with the advent of new quantum correction codes in the past two years. The main barrier to achieving quantum on a commercial scale is the number of qubits that we can use simultaneously for computation. Within the next four years, we will continue to produce systems that are growing in maturity, robustness, and reliability. It is also very likely that we will achieve quantum advantage – i.e. a quantum machine that is not able to be simulated on a classical computer and that enables the solving of new scientific problems.
Around 2028/29, we will be able to scale the systems in a modular way, which is exactly what Nu Quantum enables. At that point, we will enter commercial-scale quantum computing and systems that are both continuously upgradable and quickly accelerate us towards transformational impact territory. We will reach this between 2029 and 2033.
What is the state of the investment landscape for quantum computing?
There are more than 20 governments worldwide that have pledged approximately $50bn to quantum technologies over the next 10 years. Investment in quantum therefore continues to grow in the public sector alongside increased private investment. This is worldwide too, with the last couple of years in particular having seen increased capital from both European and Asia pacific investors.
What are Nu Quantum’s onward growth plans? What are the plans to finance these?
Nu Quantum has raised approximately $13m in equity to date, another $10m or so in revenues and about half that in grant funding. We have also just launched our Series A fund-raise and we have several commercial leads that will bring significant income into the company over the coming quarter.
We’re a team of 60 people mostly based in Cambridge, recently opened an office in Harwell and another office in Los Angeles. Our plan is to grow to about 100 people in the next two years, to continue developing our unique networking technology and to produce the world’s first qubit networks. We also plan on expanding our partnerships with QPU companies and data centre companies, as well as with end users.
