By Becky Bracken
The race to improve quantum computing power is being run in parallel with researchers trying to figure out what they might want to do with quantum once it’s widely available. That means a flurry of high-tech, high-stakes research and development going on across the globe.
But building qubits in-house is expensive and difficult. But a new Dutch startup spun off of Delft University of Technology called Quantware is now taking pre-orders for the first commercially available superconducting processor for quantum computers.
Their product, called Soprano, is a 5-qubit QPU which the companies promises will each have 99.9 percent fidelity rates.
“Our Soprano QPU is what the Intel 4004 was for the semiconductor business,” QuantWare co-founder Matthijs Rijlaarsdam said. “Superconducting qubits are highly customizable, easy to control and very scalable. That practicality makes superconducting QPUs by far the most likely candidate for near-term quantum computing applications.”
Quantware’s QPU was successfully demonstrated as part of the multi-company quantum computer project, ImpaQT, the company said.
The Crescendo is another of the company’s products available for pre-order, a low-noise traveling wave parametric amplifier (TWPA).
“The race towards useful Quantum Computation is heating up, but still reserved to a small group of companies. By making QPUs more available, we will speed up the development of practical quantum-driven solutions to the world’s biggest problems,” says QuantWare co-founder Dr Alessandro Bruno.
Thanks to a new round of funding totaling €1.15M from FORWARD.one, UniiQ, Quantum Delta NL, Rabo Innovatie Lening (RIL) and an Angel investor, the company said it plans to expand operations and hopes to partner with software companies to develop specialized chips using their quantum algorithms.