Innovation

Credit: Dieter Kühl, AQT

“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics,” quipped Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman in a 1964 Cornell lecture. Fortunately, our grasp of the subatomic world has improved, realising Feynman’s vision for a quantum computer that can outperform classical computers by magnitudes. Today, there are hundreds of companies and research groups aiming to produce quantum computers that will eventually change the world entirely. Here are eight.

AQT, short for Alpine Quantum Technologies, is an Austrian computing company founded in 2018. It focuses on trapped-ion technology, one of the first quantum computing breakthroughs. Trapped-ion technology suspends ion atoms using electromagnetic fields, cooled down by lasers. Manipulating the lasers creates different qubit states. AQT’s flagship is the IBEX Q1, which recently joined Amazon’s Braket quantum cloud computing service. It also offers Pine, a quantum computer deployable in datacentres that fits in a standard 19-inch rack and operates at room temperature.