The world of quantum computing is waking up in Europe. More than a week after the announcement of the creation of a quantum platform in France to stimulate quantum research, the start-ups Pasqal and Qu & Co are joining forces to “leverage complementary solutions on the global market” , they announced in a joint press release.
The Dutch start-up Qu & Co, which is working on the algorithmic part, has joined the French quantum flagship, Pasqal, which is designing quantum technology based on neutral atoms. This announcement opens up an opportunity for growth on the European and global stage, as the combined company will have operations in seven countries, with employees in more than 15 countries.
The new combined company, which will keep the Pasqal name, has set itself the goal of providing a 1,000-qubit quantum solution by 2023. Very ambitious projections that fit IBM’s roadmap. After presenting its 127-qubit Eagle processor at the end of the year, Big Blue also plans to launch a processor with more than 1,000 qubits next year.
But if the quantum horizon seems to be accelerating, the quantum is still far from having proven itself, reminded us a few months ago Laurent Guiraud, researcher in atomic physics, at the head of the consulting company ColibrITD. For him, the quantum advantage will be reached at the earliest in 2026. Until then, companies are best positioned in this race for innovation.
Offer short-term business benefits
In effect, this new combined Franco-Dutch platform will be “made available via the cloud to all partners in the Pasqal ecosystem, including customers, software developers and others”, says Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO de Pasqal (who will remain at the head of the merged entity). Customers, including Johnson & Johnson, LG, Airbus, Thales and even Crédit Agricole, give a fairly general idea of the areas where quantum technology could weigh in the coming years, such as finance, chemicals, the pharmaceutical industry, electronics or transportation. This pooling of knowledge on both the hardware and software part should also make it possible to focus on “short-term commercial advantages”, emphasizes Georges-Olivier Reymond.
The press release goes into more detail about the quantum computing technology developed by Pasqal: it “controls neutral atoms (atoms with an equal number of electrons and protons) using optical ‘tweezers’, using laser light to design complete processors with high connectivity and scalability”. In addition, “its agnostic quantum processing units can operate at room temperature with less energy, which allows the company to solve complex problems more efficiently than conventional computers”, mentions the press release.
“Working with Pasqal on joint research has convinced us that their neutral atom technology is the best solution to achieve real-world commercial applications in the field of quantum computing,” said Benno Broer, CEO of Qu & Co and future director. business of the merged entity. “We have been impressed with the performance of our algorithms on their hardware and the company’s many significant contributions to the quantum industry. »
Qu&Co’s algorithms include problem-solving tools for computational finance, fluid dynamics and chemistry, while Pasqal offers algorithms for optimization problems and quantum machine learning, with its Pulser coding platform, which allows to control processors based on neutral atoms at the level of laser pulses.