Quantum Computing Startup Atom Computing Raises $15M, Launches First-Generation 100-Atom Quantum Computer Using Nuclear-Spin Qubits

(WRAL.Tech.Wire) Quantum computing company Atom Computing hired a former Lenovo executive Rob Hays to lead the company as CEO after the company closed a $15 million Series A fundraising round.
The company, which previously raised $5 million in seed money and received multiple National Science Foundation grants for its technology development, also announced that it has completed Phoenix, the company’s first-generation quantum computer.
The Phoenix, said Hays in an interview with WRAL TechWire, “is our proving ground where we are showing off all operations necessary for a useful quantum computer, and allowing a select external pilot users on the system to test out our software stack.”
The Phoenix is a 100-atom quantum computer. Atom Computing is the first company to build nuclear-spin qubits out of an alkaline earth element, said Hays. The company’s quantum computer utilizes qubit states that are purely nuclear in nature.
“We use Strontium-87 to accomplish this, but our hardware, software, and methods are easily transferable across a range of elements,” said Hays.
The innovative technology, which the company describes as a breakthrough in a statement, allows for stability in quantum computing, and will also allow for scale, said Hays.
The company will use the $15 million investment to hire people and procure equipment, said Hays. The company opened its corporate office, which Hays called the “executive office,” in Cary, where it will house the executive team, marketing, business development, and other functions.
The company chose Cary, North Carolina due to the Triangle’s proximity to research universities and for its deep technical talent pool, noted Hays. North Carolina State University was chosen by IBM to house the Quantum Computing Hub in May 2018, and Duke University is opening a quantum computing facility as well.