PC Magazine - USA (2020-11)

“We’re completely in a research mode right now,” says Rob Matles, the director
of JPMorgan’s Future Lab for Applied Research and Engineering. “We want to
be ready when quantum supremacy is met.” Matles is optimistic in particular
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in which speed and accuracy is critically important.

All this activity is both supported and incentivized by the promise of taxpayer
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Quantum Initiative is expansive in scope (it calls for a 10-year plan to
“accelerate the development of quantum information science and technology
applications”) and generosity ($1 billion has been authorized so far). There’s
also plenty of support from the military: The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) has granted nearly $20 million so far this year to
spur the development of quantum computers, with no requirement that they
have an advantage over classical ones.

Rigetti, which claims to have the only dedicated quantum integrated circuit
foundry in the US, is a magnet for government funding and venture capital. It
secured $9 million from DARPA in March, then closed a $79 million series C,
and in August announced plans to build its second quantum computer in the
UK as part of a consortium funded by a £10 million (around $13 million) grant
from the British government.

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Cristiano Malossi,

Manager of the AI

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at the IBM Research

Europe