Honeywell today announced a breakthrough in quantum computing that will boost the performance of quantum computers, and the company will release the world's most powerful quantum computer within the next three months.
Honeywell today announced a breakthrough in quantum computing that will boost the performance of quantum computers, and the company will release the world's most powerful quantum computer within the next three months.
Honeywell also announced strategic investments in two leading quantum computing software providers and will co-develop quantum algorithms with jpmorgan Chase. This represents a significant technical and commercial advance in quantum computing that will change the dynamics of the quantum computing industry.
Within the next three months, Honeywell will bring to market the world's most powerful Quantum computer by Quantum Volume. Quantum volume is a metric used to measure the performance of a quantum computer, rather than just the number of quantum bits. Quantum volume is a more accurate and comprehensive measure of the capabilities of quantum computers, including the complexity of problems that can be solved. Honeywell's soon-to-be-released quantum computer will have a quantum volume of at least 64, twice the size of the industry's future No. 2.
In a scientific paper, Honeywell demonstrated the quantum charge-coupled device (QCCD) architecture, a major technological breakthrough for improving the performance of quantum computers. The paper is currently available on the Honeywell website and will be posted to the online database platform arXiv later today. Honeywell also announced that the quantum volume of quantum computers will increase by an order of magnitude each year for the next five years.
This quantum volume breakthrough comes from Honeywell's quantum computing solution with high-quality, fully connected qubits with a low error rate.
"Building quantum computers that can solve deeper and more complex problems is not just a matter of increasing the number of qubits," said Paul Smith-Goodson, quantum computing analyst at Moor Insights&Strategy. "Quantum volume is a powerful tool that should be adopted by other quantum computer companies based on qubit gates as a benchmark for measuring the transition."
In a statement, Honeywell Chairman and CEO Ruizhe Duh said, "Companies should start defining their strategies now to take advantage of or mitigate the many business changes that may be brought about by new quantum computing technologies. Quantum computing will enable us to address complex scientific and business challenges, driving incremental improvements in computing power, operating costs and speed. Materials companies will explore new molecular structures. Transport companies will optimize logistics. Financial institutions will need faster and more precise software applications. Pharmaceutical companies will speed up the research and development of new drugs. Honeywell is working hard to advance the field of quantum computing and create opportunities for our customers to benefit from this powerful new technology."
To accelerate the development of quantum Computing and expand its customers' real-world use, Honeywell Ventures has invested in two quantum software and algorithm leaders - Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) and Zapata Computing. CQC and Zapata complement Honeywell's own quantum computing capabilities, and they bring a vast array of algorithms and software capabilities across industries. CQC is strong in quantum software, particularly with quantum development platforms and enterprise-grade applications in chemistry, machine learning and enhanced cybersecurity. Zapata has created enterprise-grade, quantum-enabled software that can target a large number of industries and users, allowing users to build quantum workflows and freely execute them on a range of quantum and classical devices.
Honeywell also announced that the company will work with jpmorgan Chase, a global financial firm, to develop quantum algorithms using Honeywell computers.
"Honeywell's unique quantum computer, and the ecosystem it has built, can help us address key and rising business challenges in the financial services industry," said Dr. Marco Pistoia, managing Director and head of the Applied Research and Engineering Future Lab at jpmorgan Chase.
In late 2018, Honeywell announced quantum computing capabilities. In fact, for 10 years before the announcement, the company had been building the technical basis for quantum computers. At the end of 2019, Honeywell announced a partnership with Microsoft to provide cloud access services for Honeywell Quantum computers through Microsoft's Azure Quantum services.
The Honeywell quantum computer uses ion trap technology, which uses a large number of single charged atoms (ions) to hold quantum information. The Honeywell system uses electromagnetic fields to trap each ion, and the trapped ion is manipulated and encoded by laser pulses.
