Interesting Quantum Computing Events to Expect in 2023
In the past couple of years, the race among big tech players to build quantum computers with real-world-problem-solving capabilities and fully commercialize them has been fascinating. This is particularly because we have seen these tech giants work round the clock to scale the next-gen technology so that government institutions and companies can use them to solve their problems.
In an effort to establish their authority in the quantum computing (QC) space, some of these companies have released their roadmaps. These blueprints give QC pundits an idea of what to expect in the near future. As 2022 gradually winds down, many people are eager to see what Quantum Computing Trends in 2023 will come to life. So, this article aims to walk you through what you should expect in the coming year.
Buzz Around the Quantum Computing Ecosystem
But before we dissect what you should expect in 2023, let’s examine what the key players have done thus far. As you are well aware, the essence of all this buzz is to achieve quantum supremacy. Earlier, Google claimed that they achieved that milestone when the team demonstrated the capabilities of 54-qubit Sycamore in 2019.
One year later, IBM, the undisputed QC leader, took a bold step to release the 27-qubit Falcon. Every year, the tech corporation launches one QC system. For instance, IBM unveiled 65-qubit Hummingbird in 2020, 127-qubit Eagle in 2021, and 433-qubit Osprey in 2022. All these ground breaking innovations took place within a decade, signalling hope that the industry is on a positive growth trajectory.
While lots of American tech giants such as IBM, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are investing massively in the QC industry, other countries have followed suit. For instance, in Canada, D-Wave is chiefly focusing on quantum annealing technology to give users a breath of fresh air.
Founded in 1999, D-Wave released 128-qubit D-Wave One in 2011, 512-qubit D-Wave Two in 2013, 2048-qubit D-Wave 2000Q in 2015, and they would progress to launch 5640-qubit D-Wave Advantage in 2020. However, these QC systems are based on quantum annealing, which supports limited algorithms.
Funding and Challenges
Recall that 2022 has seen several QC companies kick off their capital funding rounds. Notable mentions were ColdQuanta which announced a $110 million Series B funding to finance its quantum commercialization process, while Xanadu closed its $100 million Series C funding to accelerate its fault-tolerant QC system engineering.
Not to mention that QuantrolOx announced a €10.5 million accelerator grant and equity investment from the European Innovation Council. In addition, QuantrolOx also raised £1.4 million in seed funding to scale its QC technology. According to The Quantum Insider, in 2021 alone, government institutions and companies plunged about $3.2 billion in the industry as opposed to $900 million invested in the past year.
In the East, China’s Baidu Research, CIQTEK, Huawei Cloud, and Origin Quantum as well as Japan’s Fujitsu have committed time and resources to extensive research studies in a bid to leave indelible marks on the QC track. Likewise, the Chinese government has provided funding through the National Natural Sciences Foundation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to lend its support to the new technology.
In short, tech analysts estimate that the Chinese government invested about $5 billion – $10 billion in the burgeoning landscape between 2018 and the first quarter of 2022. Elsewhere in the world, government agencies and companies also are teaming up to deepen their knowledge of the technology and how to use it to improve industrial processes and life in general.
Despite the concerted efforts of these stakeholders, a lot still needs to be done because today’s QC technologies have numerous failings. For instance, there are issues of noise, error correction , the physical materials for producing qubits, and how to stabilize qubits. Plus, quantum computers are pricey, thus defeating the aim of making them ubiquitous. With all these drawbacks, one wonders what we should expect in 2023.
Quantum Computing Trends in 2023
Fast-forwarding to 2023, it is clear that the big tech players in the QC industry will invest more time and resources to scale their products and tackle the aforementioned hurdles. Some companies with clear roadmaps have already given us insights into what to expect.
These companies already give us a glimmer of hope that the industry will move beyond the NISQ (Noisy intermediate-scale quantum) stage and reach utility-scale using existing technology. Because errors have become a big obstacle in the rapidly evolving technology, companies are likely to intensify their efforts to build error-corrected QC systems in 2023.
As regards scaling the QC systems, IBM is not ready to rest on its laurel as it has plans to launch its 1211-qubit Condor, which becomes a breakthrough in the gate-based QC systems. Sure, Condor will be the first of its model to hit and surpass the 1000-qubit threshold.
The big tech corporation says the Condor system will enhance applications with elastic computing technology. In a similar vein, Fujitsu, the Japanese multinational ICT corp., has finalized all initiatives to launch its 64-qubit QC system in 2023. This quantum computer, according to the Fujitsu team, will be for extensive research into medicine, financial forecasting, and materials.
Furthermore, new QC start-ups would launch into the exciting landscape to chart a course for its future. Companies will also adopt new strategies to scale QC systems and attain quantum advantage. This, no doubt, will attract more investment inflow.
Already, venture capital firms are bullish on the emerging technology. So far, we have seen Kipu Quantum, Inspiration-Q, RANDAEMON, and QUDORA make conspicuous entries into the QC industry. Global investors are ready to finance these QC start-ups, leading to more series of funding rounds in the coming year.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, lots of QC enthusiasts would love to see public cloud service providers continuously enhance and expand their offerings. Cloud-based quantum computing (or quantum cloud computing) is the seamless invocation of quantum emulators, simulators, or processors through the cloud.
Well, this enables QC systems to complete complex tasks via the cloud. One study shows that about 13 companies are offering this service, including IBM, Google Quantum AI, Xanadu, Amazon Bracket, and D-Wave. Given the efforts and resources that go into this field, there are strong indications that it will get better soon, compelling more companies to give it a shot. Interestingly enough, that soon starts from 2023.
In conclusion, even if we aren’t sure of what’s going to happen in 2023, we are certain that IBM will launch a 1000-qubit QC machine next year. Although there are claims that a 100-qubit quantum computer is more powerful than all the classical computers in the world combined, today’s QC systems have numerous shortcomings (as identified above).
This means that once IBM has launched its 1000-qubit system, it brings the multinational tech corporation closer to releasing QC systems capable of attaining quantum supremacy. Truly, this goes to show that 2023 will certainly be an interesting year in the QC world, and you can trust us to bring you the epoch-making events as they unfold.
