John M. Martinez, one of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in physics for his advances in quantum computing, formed an alliance Monday with HPE and several chip companies to create a practical, mass-produced quantum supercomputer.
Quantum computers promise to solve problems in chemistry, medicine and other fields that would take thousands of years for classical computers to solve.
Major technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Alphabet, where Martinez worked before co-founding his current startup, Qolab, are racing to develop this technology.
But these efforts are largely ad hoc, built one computer at a time by small teams. The new group, called the Quantum Scaling Alliance, aims to build quantum computers that can be made with the same tools that produce hundreds of millions of chips a year for smartphones, laptops or AI servers.
Since early work in this field in the 1980s, quantum chips, which operate using what are known as qubits, have been made “by hand” in small batches at a time, Martinez told Reuters.
The alliance will include long-time chip industry suppliers such as Applied Materials, which makes chipmaking tools, and Synopsys, which makes chip design software, that will create larger, more uniform quantum chips.
“At this point, we believe it is time to move to a more standardized professional model that uses highly sophisticated tools,” Martinez said.
As quantum chips get larger, they will need to communicate with classical computers to perform vital functions, such as correcting errors that can disrupt quantum circuits.
However, combining classic machines with existing supercomputers like those made by HPE won’t be easy because there are few industry-wide standards on how to do so.
Masoud Mohseni, a renowned technologist who leads HPE’s quantum team, worked with Martinez and thirty other researchers on a project on how to do this last year, a plan they will put into action with the consortium.
“People naively believe that once you have a system with hundreds (of qubits) or that if you reach thousands, you can reach millions. This is simply not true,” Mohseni said in an interview. “At every stop, you face entirely new challenges.”
Other founders of the alliance are 1QBit, Quantum Machines, Riverlane, and the University of Wisconsin.
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