In the second part of this interview with Dr.Anna Phan, Asia Pacific Quantum Alliance Lead at IBM Quantum, Tech Wire Asia learns more about IBM’s plans for quantum computing in 2022, as well as the costs from developing and using the technology.

THE WORLD HAS ENTERED THE QUANTUM DECADE, SAYS IBM

Aaron Raj | 22 December, 2021

What can we expect from IBM in 2022 for quantum computing?

We published our technology roadmap in 2020, which puts us on a course toward million-plus qubit processors by the end of the decade.

In 2021, we released our development roadmap, which showcases our integrated vision and timeline for full-stack quantum development, including hardware, software, and applications.

It lays out the path toward developer services leveraging 1,000+ qubit systems, via the IBM Cloud, to investigate error correction. It also provides the technical foundations of how we scale and drive the adoption of quantum computing for our clients and ecosystem.

Developers exploring quantum computing today will be able to do more, faster, as IBM implements technologies designed on OpenShift to work alongside quantum computers. And more developers from different industries will have more reasons and opportunities to explore quantum computing within their workflows.

Recently, we broke the 100-qubit barrier with the introduction of “Eagle”, a 127-qubit quantum processor — the first IBM device that cannot be reliably simulated on a classical device.

This is another step toward the goal of systems capable of exploring applications with a quantum advantage.

This breakthrough gives even more confidence to those in the industry beginning to adopt QC, as well as university students who are choosing their fields of study.

While we announced Eagle, we also previewed the design for IBM Quantum System Two, which is an example of a modular hardware architecture that provides a pathway to continue scaling up quantum processors.

IBM Quantum System Two will support our upcoming 433-qubit IBM Quantum Osprey processor, planned for 2022, and our 1,121-qubit IBM Quantum Condor processor, targeted for 2023.

IBM Quantum System Two incorporates a new generation of scalable qubit control electronics together with higher-density cryogenic components and cabling. It will move us closer to a true quantum data center.

Not only are we working toward increasing the scale of our systems to more than 400-qubit processors by 2022, but our systems will run a wider variety of circuits, allowing users to tackle problems previously inaccessible to any quantum processors.

Will quantum computing technology be more affordable in the future?

Quantum is an area of incredible promise slated to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars of value for our clients by the end of the decade.

In terms of IBM’s roadmap, Boston Consulting Group and IBM see $3B+ in near-term value creation, with IBM’s 1,121-qubit “Condor” processor being an inflection point in 2023.

This milestone marks our ability to implement error correction and scale up our devices, while simultaneously being complex enough to explore potential quantum advantages—problems that we can solve more efficiently on a quantum computer than on the world’s best supercomputers.

Take financial services — according to BCG’s report, quantum capabilities could be in trader workflows by 2025. So too, could these capabilities be in place for powering computational fluid dynamics for aerospace and automotive design.

To accomplish all of this, it will take IBM and an ecosystem to identify the problems, design the right solutions, ensure a quantum ready workforce and quantum ready industries. What quantum roadmap does is it gives business leaders, developers, investors confidence that the “engine to power all of this” is getting stronger. This is key to future value creation.

The post IBM: Quantum computing will unlock billions in value by 2030 appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

In fact, at the recent 2021 Quantum Summit, IBM declared that 2023 will be the year when its systems deliver quantum advantage as quantum computing takes its early place as a powerful tool in the high-performance computing landscape.

Dr. Anna Phan, Asia Pacific Quantum Alliance Lead at IBM Quantum, spoke to Tech Wire Asia on the future of quantum computing. In the first part of the interview, she explains how the industry forecasts for 2022 and the growing competition as well.

How does IBM foresee the quantum computing industry unfolding in 2022?

Dr.Anna Phan, Asia Pacific Quantum Alliance Lead at IBM Quantum. (Source – IBM)

Quantum computing is no longer a futuristic concept. The world has entered into the quantum decade — an era when enterprises begin to see quantum computing’s business value. This year’s unprecedented advances in hardware, software development, and services validate the technology’s momentum.

This is creating an ecosystem from individual developers to institutions and industries that paves the way for further breakthroughs in 2022, preparing the market for the eventual adoption of this nascent technology.

From a technology innovation perspective, things are moving fast. Certain problems simply can’t be solved with a classical computer due to capacity or processing speed constraints.

IBM’s own publicly available quantum roadmap is focused on removing these constraints to deliver quantum advantage – the point where certain information processing tasks can be performed more efficiently or cost-effectively on a quantum computer than on a classical computer. This involves driving performance improvements along three dimensions: scale, quality, and speed.

However, innovation alone can’t unlock the full potential of quantum computing. In 2022, the industry needs to continue preparing for the day quantum computing can help solve tough, classically unsolvable problems, enabling businesses to gain a competitive advantage. As next year unfolds, this will require a focus on developing quantum skills across the quantum ecosystem to ensure industry workforces that are ‘quantum ready’.

As outlined in our “Quantum Decade” report, we estimate that there are only about 3,000 skilled quantum workers in the market today. That base needs to be doubled or quadrupled to exploit the full potential of quantum this decade and ensure businesses aren’t left behind.

Across Asia and the rest of the world, through next year IBM will continue investing in quantum developer certification, as well as boot camp-like educational programs and investments in university curricula that empower a diverse workforce and enable quantum computing skills to blossom.

How far are we from seeing real-world quantum computing use cases being adapted by organizations?

Companies already engaging with quantum computing – simply wanting a head start with what might soon become possible. It could help address problems that are too challenging for even today’s most powerful supercomputers, such as figuring out how to make better batteries or sequester carbon emissions.

IBM is currently working with more than 170 organizations around the world, including Asia, on research to apply quantum to real-world problems. For example, Mercedes-Benz is working with us to explore how quantum computing can advance the development of lithium-sulfur batteries for electric vehicles.

(Editor’s note: Both Toyota and BMW are also using quantum computing in their electric vehicle and EV battery production and supply chain.)

CERN is using our quantum systems to explore ways to use machine learning to look for new ways of finding patterns in data from the LHC (large hadron collider).

And industrial chemists at Mitsubishi Chemical and JSR Corporation, which are members of the IBM Quantum Hub at Keio University in Japan, are using our systems to model and analyze the deep molecular structures of potential new OLED (organic light-emitting diode) materials.

There are many use cases where businesses could put quantum computing to work. One field that could greatly benefit from quantum computing is chemistry where it may help discover new materials, drugs, and fertilizers, among many other potential discoveries.

For example, BP is using IBM’s quantum systems to explore applications for driving efficiencies and reducing carbon ‎emissions, while ExxonMobil is exploring possible solutions to the logistical challenge of moving the world’s cleanest-burning fuel LPG across the globe, also using IBM quantum systems.

With growing research from various companies all over the world in quantum computing, is the industry getting more competitive?

 The quantum computing challenge is too big for any one organization. As quantum moves from the lab to the real world, ecosystems are forming to support collaborative innovation and open-source development. Potential ecosystems likely include a quantum computing technology partner, quantum computing developers, and academic partners.

IBM has been at the heart of this ecosystem since developing and deploying the first working quantum computer on the cloud in 2016. And now more than 380,000 registered users, and 170 companies, academic institutions, start-ups, and national research labs all over the world are part of IBM’s community. Enabled by IBM’s quantum computers, scientists, engineers, and consultants, they are using our technology, publishing fundamental research, contributing code to the open-source Qiskit software framework, and pursuing real-world use cases. This shows the willingness of individuals and businesses, alike, to get ready for a future with quantum computing.

Just in Asia over the last year, we collaborated with our partners at the University of Tokyo to install an IBM Quantum System One — the first in Japan. Considered Japan’s most-powerful quantum computer, it is part of a larger, ongoing collaboration with the Quantum Innovation Initiative Consortium to advance Japan’s exploration of quantum science, business, and education. We also recently announced plans to install an IBM Quantum System One at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, where we are already working with Sungkyunkwan University to grow the local quantum computing ecosystem through education.

Additionally, in Singapore, we are working with the National University of Singapore to support training and promote industry-academia collaboration to develop new software in quantum computing.

And recently, University of Melbourne researchers working on IBM devices developed techniques to entangle all 27 qubits on our “Falcon” processor, as well as all 65 qubits on our “Hummingbird” processor – the most entangled qubits in both instances.

Entanglement is what gives quantum computers their exponential power; being able to entangle more qubits could allow users to carry out vastly more complex calculations.

In the second part of our conversation with Dr. Anna, we discuss the costs involved in quantum computing and IBM’s plans for the industry in 2022. 

The post The world has entered the quantum decade, says IBM appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Quantum computing is still in its early stages. In 2019, Google announced that it achieved quantum supremacy with its 54-qubit Sycamore processor that was able to perform a calculation in 200 seconds. That task would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years. Now, a team in China has demonstrated that it has the world’s most powerful quantum computer, leapfrogging Google.

In a non-peer-reviewed paper released late last month, the team led by Pan Jianwei, a physicist from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei unveiled a super-advanced 66-qubit quantum supercomputer called Zuchongzhi, which by one important metric is the most powerful machine of its kind we’ve seen to date. 

According to a report by Science Alert, Zuchongzhi finished a designated quantum benchmark task in around 70 minutes, and its creators claim the world’s most powerful ‘classical’ (non-quantum) supercomputer to date would need around eight years to get through the same set of calculations.

In context, quantum computing is still in its infancy but promises to take computational power to a new level by manipulating subatomic particles. Scientists hope it will help lead to breakthroughs in areas such as materials science and developing new drugs.

“Our work establishes an unambiguous quantum computational advantage that is infeasible for classical computation in a reasonable amount of time. The high-precision and programmable quantum computing platform opens a new door to explore novel many-body phenomena and implement complex quantum algorithms,” the researchers explain in a preprint paper describing the experiment.

DOES THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION HINGE ON QUANTUM COMPUTERS?

Soumik Roy | 3 October, 2019

The experiment was described by news service Phys.org as being about “100 times more challenging than one carried out” by Google’s Sycamore quantum processor two years ago. More than 50 scientists are involved with the quantum project and some are affiliated with institutes including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and quantum information technology developer QuantumCTek.

It is important to note that no quantum computer is yet ready to do useful work. However, Google and rivals including IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, and several large startups have all spent heavily on developing quantum computing hardware in recent years. Google and IBM offer access to their latest prototypes over the internet, while Microsoft’s and Amazon’s cloud platforms each host a smorgasbord of quantum hardware from others, including Honeywell.

Quantum supremacy and its impact on the real world

The potential power of quantum computers springs from their basic building blocks, dubbed qubits. Like the bits of conventional computers, they can represent 0s and 1s of data; but qubits can also exploit quantum mechanics to attain an unusual state called a superposition that encapsulates the possibilities of both.

With enough qubits it’s possible to take computational shortcuts conventional computers can’t—an advantage that grows as more qubits work together

Quantum computers don’t yet rule the world, because engineers haven’t been able to get enough qubits working together reliably enough. The quantum mechanical effects they depend on are very delicate. Google and the Chinese group were able to stage their supremacy experiments because they managed to corral qubits in relatively large numbers.

Google’s experiment used a superconducting chip dubbed Sycamore with 54 qubits, cooled to fractions of a degree above absolute zero. One qubit didn’t work but the remaining 53 were enough to demonstrate supremacy over conventional computers on a carefully chosen statistical problem.

It’s unclear just how many good quality qubits are needed for a quantum computer to do useful work; expert estimates range from hundreds to millions.

The Chinese team achievements include demonstrating the use of quantum encryption over record-breaking distances, including using a satellite specially designed for quantum communications to secure a video call between China and Austria.

The post The quantum computing race is heating up as the Chinese surpass Google appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

German car manufacturer BMW is pairing up with Honeywell to figure out how to maximize manufacturing efficiencies with the aid of quantum computing.

The car giant plans to use Honeywell’s machines to find better ways to buy the various parts that make up its cars without disrupting production. Honeywell announced on Wednesday that the German car giant would be testing out its different machines, such as the System Model H1. 

As tracking the availability and pricing of components from a variety of suppliers can be a complex task, especially for traditional computers, BMW is hoping that the quantum approach can help it to improve its manufacturing processes. 

It is reported that BMW is also working with a Singapore-based startup, Entropica Labs, which designs software that can be run on quantum computing platforms such as the one offered by Honeywell. 

BMW Group head of IT Julius Marcea said, “We are excited to investigate the transformative potential of quantum computing on the automotive industry and are committed to extending the limits of engineering performance.” She added that the BMW Group is always exploring new technologies to further enhance its operations.

Quantum computers for BMW

According to Cnet, BMW has begun using Honeywell machines, first the H0, and then the newer H1, to determine which components should be purchased from which supplier at what time to ensure the lowest cost while maintaining production schedules. 

BMW actually started evaluating quantum computing in 2018 and has a lot of ideas for where it could help, Marcea said. Among these, quantum computers could improve battery chemistry in electric vehicles and figure out the best places to install charging stations. It could also help tackle the constellation of requirements in design and manufacturing — everything from cost and safety to aerodynamics and durability.

According to Honeywell’s quantum computing business president Tony Uttley, at the nascent stage, BMW will test quantum computing speed and ensure small-scale computations match results from classical machines. Then in about 18 to 24 months, quantum computers could tackle optimization problems no classical computer can handle.

Then Honeywell’s System Model H1 quantum computer that will be used by BMW is still in its early days as it was first launched in late October 2020. It relies on 10 connected qubits with a coherence period of seconds, due to the company’s trapped-ion technology. 

That differs from approaches by Google, IBM, Intel, IonQ, and others, who all use competing methods to run and cool their systems.

How quantum computing helps businesses

It’s well established that quantum computers have the potential to resolve problems of this complexity and magnitude across many different industries and applications.

According to a report by McKinsey, quantum computers have four fundamental capabilities that differentiate them from today’s classical computers: quantum simulation, in which quantum computers model complex molecules; optimization (that is, solving multivariable problems with unprecedented speed); quantum artificial intelligence (AI), utilizes better algorithms that could transform machine learning across industries as diverse as pharma and automotive; and prime factorization, which could revolutionize encryption.

IS CHINA LEADING THE QUANTUM COMPUTING RACE?

Dashveenjit Kaur | 21 December, 2020

Across every industry, complex business problems involve a host of variables. Solving those issues with classical computing can be an arduous, hit-and-miss process. But since quantum computers work with multiple variables simultaneously, they can be used first to dramatically narrow the range of possible answers in a very short time. 

“Classical computing can then be called into zero in on one precise answer, and its work will still seem slow compared with that of quantum. But, since quantum has eliminated so many possibilities, this hybrid approach will drastically cut the time it takes to find the best solution,” McKinsey said in its report.

Simply put, among the myriad benefits, as quantum computing presents a business with the ability to perform faster and more accurate data analytics, it could potentially open up more opportunities in terms of growth and even help reduce a company’s overhead in many different ways.

The post BMW embraces quantum computing to enhance supply chain appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Just last year a team from Google achieved what it called “quantum supremacy” when its quantum computer performed a calculation faster than a conventional computer could. Google’s John Martinis and Sergio Boixo in a blog post said “Our machine performed the target computation in 200 seconds, and from measurements in our experiment, we determined that it would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to produce a similar output.”

And earlier this month, a team under the direction of Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology in China (USTC), said its quantum computer succeeded in performing a calculation 100 trillion times faster than a conventional computer could — surpassing Google’s achievement by a factor of 10 billion, according to the Xinhua.

THE QUANTUM COMPUTING CYBERSECURITY THREAT ‘CANNOT BE UNDERESTIMATED’

Mark Jones | 3 September, 2020

The state-run news agency said the researchers have built a quantum computer prototype that is able to detect up to 76 photons through Gaussian boson sampling, a standard simulation algorithm, citing research published in Science magazine. That’s exponentially faster than existing supercomputers.

It is important to note that all computing systems rely on a fundamental ability to store and manipulate information. Quantum computers leverage quantum mechanical phenomena to manipulate information. To do this, they rely on quantum bits, or qubits, whereas current computers manipulate individual bits, which store information as binary 0 and 1 states. Qubits are synonymous with binary bits of classical computers, but unlike binary bits, it can exist in many states simultaneously.

China’s quantum supremacy

Having understood the race to quantum supremacy, researchers from USTC explained that this quantum computer prototype named Jiuzhang delivered results in minutes calculated to take more than 2 billion years of effort by the world’s third-most-powerful supercomputer. This achievement marks China’s first milestone on its mission to attain full-scale quantum computing.

According to reports, Lu Chaoyang, a professor in charge of the experiment at USTC stated that Jiuzhang achieved the breakthrough by manipulating particles of light. The approach is different than the one used by Google, which used super cold, superconducting metal, to build quantum circuits to manipulate qubits. 

IBM too leveraged on a similar approach. In fact, both tech giants have invested large sums of money into superconducting circuits to push quantum computing research.  On the other hand, Honeywell and IonQ have been developing alternative quantum computing architectures that involve trapping ions. Moreover, Australia’s Silicon Quantum Computing uses spin-based silicon qubits for its quantum systems. As for Google’s Sycamore, 54 qubits were used, which were cooled to fractions of a degree above absolute zero. Only one qubit didn’t work but the remaining 53 were enough to demonstrate supremacy over conventional computers on a carefully chosen statistical problem.

In comparison, for Jiuzhang the research team led by quantum physicist Jian-Wei Pa built a large tabletop setup consisting of lasers as the light source and beam splitters to help create the individual photons, along with hundreds of prisms and dozens of mirrors to provide the randomized paths for the photons to travel. Wired mentions that each photon read out at the end of the process can be thought of as is roughly equivalent to reading out a qubit on a processor like Google’s, revealing the result of a calculation.

The researchers equipped Jiuzhang with 300 beam splitters and 75 mirrors. Up to 76 output photon-clicks were observed while the average detected photon number by the prototype is 43, during experimental runs lasting 200 seconds. Comparatively, the Chinese supercomputer, TaihuLight, would have taken 2.5 billion years to arrive at the same result.

However, Jiuzhang cannot be used immediately in real-life applications. It will need to work with a programmable chip to perform various calculations. On rumors about the threat, it poses to cryptocurrency, or any encryption used by finance, communication, and government systems currently; Jiuzhang is reported to be unable to solve the factoring problem that is crucial to decoding encrypted information.

To date, China has invested heavily in quantum computing, with Xi Jinping’s government spending US$10 billion on the country’s National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences.

The post Is China leading the quantum computing race? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Scientists have been researching quantum computing for decades, but it is only in recent years that quantum computers have enjoyed a sudden surge in enterprise interest, stimulated by Google’s claim last year to have achieved “quantum supremacy”, alongside announcements from powerhouses like IBM and Microsoft.

The use of quantum computing by developers is to encode problems as qubits, which compute multiple combinations of variables at once rather than exploring each possibility discretely. In theory, this could allow researchers to quickly solve problems involving different combinations of variables, such as breaking encryption keys, testing the properties of different chemical compounds, or simulating different business models. 

In fact, researchers have begun to demonstrate real-world examples of how these early quantum computers could be put to use. In theory, quantum computers could one day lead to substantial advances in materials science, AI, medicine, finance, communications, and more. 

First, what is quantum computing?

A regular computer stores information in a series of 0’s and 1’s. Different kinds of information, such as numbers, text, and images can be represented this way. Each unit in this series of 0’s and 1’s is called a bit. So, a bit can be set to either 0 or 1. A quantum computer, however, does not use bits to store information. Instead, it uses something called quantum bits (qubits). Each qubit can not only be set to 1 or 0, but it can also be set to 1 and 0.

In layman’s terms, quantum computers are not intended to replace classical computers, they are expected to be a different tool we will use to solve complex problems that are beyond the capabilities of a classical computer. Basically, as we are entering a big data world in which the information we need to store grows, there is a need for more ones and zeros and transistors to process it. For the most part, classical computers are limited to doing one thing at a time, so the more complex the problem, the longer it takes. 

What to expect from cloud-based quantum computing services?

In terms of quantum computing services in the cloud, providers have been rushing to outdo one another by launching quantum computing offerings in recent years. In 2019, Microsoft announced Azure Quantum, a general-purpose cloud service for deploying quantum applications. Amazon’s quantum computing arm, called Braket, became generally available in August this year. IBM, too, is making a major cloud quantum play with IBM Quantum Experience, which builds on the company’s investments in quantum research.

On the other hand, Google Cloud doesn’t yet include a general-purpose quantum computing service, although the platform has offered TensorFlow Quantum, a library for building quantum machine-learning models, since March 2020.

Broadly, the quantum cloud services will look something like this: cloud providers will have remote data centers with quantum computers, just as they do with regular computers. Users will tap into them from their personal computers and either write their own software or use existing software to harness the computing power without actually needing to understand how it works.

To date, there are two types of quantum cloud services solutions offered by vendors like Azure, Microsoft, and IBM, which is the use of software emulators to simulate a quantum computing environment and access to actual quantum hardware.

The first type of service, according to ITPro Today, won’t give you anything approaching quantum performance. The simulated quantum environments are hosted on conventional hardware, so your code will run only as fast as it would on a conventional machine. Still, the simulators do allow programmers to test code that they’ve written for quantum computers, which can help organizations get ahead of the curve if they are working on quantum applications.

THE CXO’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF QUANTUM COMPUTING

Soumik Roy | 18 March, 2019

The access to actual quantum hardware though is offered through partnerships with companies like IonQ and D-Wave, which develop quantum machines. Using cloud services like Bracket, Azure Quantum, and IBM Quantum Experience, you can rent access to real quantum computers through the cloud. The downside is that the quantum hardware available through these services remains very much in development.

Yet, the quantum cloud services provided in the market currently make it easy for anyone with a public cloud account to access quantum environments. There is no need to work directly with a quantum hardware vendor or figure out how to set up your own quantum simulation environment, to play around with quantum software. For easy access to production-ready quantum environments — we are probably at least a decade away. 

The post When can we start using quantum cloud computing? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

2020 has been a tough year for many reasons, and the spike in opportunistic cybercrime has only been a ‘jewel’ in its crown.

The work from the home revolution which took place overnight highlighted to us just how unprepared we were to keep a distributed workforce protected. Cybercriminals were lightning fast to emerge and capitalize on the crisis and confusion.

Cybersecurity is a complex beast. Despite the inch-thick, Teflon-coated plate we place around the IT network, it only takes one hasty click of a rogue phishing link to open a backdoor for cybercriminals to take control.

While malware may become more sophisticated and the methods of attackers harder to detect, at present we are playing against a familiar if unrelenting foe; the age of quantum computing will bring a force of adversity of new proportions.

“You might think that 2020 has been a rough year for cybersecurity, but we’re only just scratching the surface of what could go wrong,” Dr Ali El Kaafarani, founder of PQShield and research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute, cheerily told Tech Wire Asia.

“Add quantum computers into the mix, and the entire foundation of today’s information security will be under threat.”

Hard to fathom though it is today, few disagree that quantum computing will be a revolutionary technology.

Heading towards a market worth of US$5.8 billion by 2025, every few months we hear of another milestone made by the likes of IBM or Google, bringing us closer to an age of quantum potential.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet with one of Google’s quantum computers.
Source: AFP

The quantum era

“Quantum computing is the future industry and infrastructure disruptor for organizations looking to use large amounts of data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to accelerate real-time business intelligence and innovate product development,” according to Heather Wells, the IDC’s senior research analyst of Infrastructure Systems, Platforms, and Technology.

Theoretical use cases of the technology span anything concerning large, uncertain systems that need to be simulated, from predicting the financial markets to producing better, cheaper drugs.

But as the quantum dawn approaches, conventions challenged include our notions of how we can protect our machines and networks — which, as we know, are regularly proven to be far from airtight. Of particular concern is quantum computing’s potential to eventually break encryption methods, which are used in varying degrees to safeguard data from individual to state level.

“The scale of the quantum threat cannot be underestimated,” said Kaafarani. They will have the ability to smash through traditional public-key encryption, threatening the security of all sensitive information, past and present.

“Data across cars, planes, medical devices, servers, and countless other devices cannot be secured retrospectively; they must be protected now.”

A severe threat

The threat is too severe to ignore, but it’s not being overlooked. In fact, the US National Security Agency warned in 2015 it must ‘act now’ to safeguard its systems from the quantum threat, and The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to define new, quantum-ready cryptographic standards.

That process is now in the final stages, and PQShield is a leading contributor to the project, with two out of the seven finalist algorithms having been co-authored and led by Kaafarani’s team.

The quantum computing cybersecurity threat comes down to the ease of which the technology will likely be able to break through existing methods of encryption. Existing types of encryption revolve around mathematical problems, such as integer factorization and discrete logarithm, which are difficult for classic machines to solve because of their computational limitations. But once quantum computers arrive, they will be able to easily solve those mathematical problems and thus break the most common form of modern encryption — public-key cryptography.

“Our team is designing new post-quantum cryptographic solutions for software, hardware, and communications, which go way beyond those encryption methods, using different mathematical fields and principles that offer the complexity necessary to stump even a quantum computer,” said Kaafarani.

He added confidence that there are no algorithms that can solve the type of mathematical problems that PQShield is using to build the next generation of public-key cryptography.

Raising alarm bells

Quantum computing advances have been incremental to date, but Kaafarani believes there have been notable advances in the last few years that have raise alarm bells for those looking at the application of the technology “as a weapon”.

In late 2019, we started to see back and forth between Google and IBM about achieving ‘quantum supremacy’ when it came to performing certain calculations and then we saw the world’s first real-world application of the technology outside of these calculations by Volkswagen in 2019.

“At this current pace of innovation, it’s not unfeasible that we could see a nation-state or well-capitalized company develop a rudimentary quantum computer within the next decade. We might not know about it, it would be a huge competitive advantage and they might choose to keep it secret,” Kaafarani said.

“While different industries have different timelines depending on how long their product life cycles are, it’s fair to say that for data across cars, planes, military vehicles, power stations, satellites, IoT – anything that will last over 10 years — this threat needs to be considered right now.”

While with current computers, we lack the practical means to do so due to computational and memory limitations to do so, a malicious actor using a quantum computer could gain access to the secret key corresponding to any public key.

An attacker could use that access to forge the signature of a software update and push an update to, say, an engine part and it will not know it’s forged, Kaafarani explained: “This would then enable the bad actor to alter the operations of an aircraft through that part as they wish in secret. That’s also what makes the famous ‘harvest now decrypt later’ attack possible.”

It is then vital to act now to ensure a smooth yet secure transition into the powerful quantum era.

The post The quantum computing cybersecurity threat ‘cannot be underestimated’ appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Earlier this week, tech leader Microsoft announced the launch of a new program to foster the building of quantum computing skills and techniques amongst the Indian academic community. Part of the program will be the ‘Train the Trainer’ initiative, to teach nearly a thousand faculty members from top IT universities how to leverage quantum computing skills.

“This program will train 900 faculty from Universities and Institutes across India through E & ICT Academies at Institutes of National Importance such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, MNIT Jaipur, NIT Patna, IIIT-D Jabalpur, and NIT Warangal, equipping academics with the required skills to start building their quantum future,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The unique program is part of an overall quantum training initiative that Microsoft is enabling through India’s electronics and information technology academies, and is a component of the overall goal to ensure future generations of IT learners are equipped with the next level of technological skills.

Quantum computing applies the properties of quantum physics to the processing of information, in a manner similar to regular computational processes but certain algorithms could take lesser time to be crunched on quantum computers. The capabilities of quantum computers will empower the creation of new discoveries in the areas of healthcare, energy, environmental systems, smart materials manufacture, and more.

Quantum computing is still far off from uptake in business, but the technology has proven integral in providing enterprises with additional processing muscle, such as allowing automaker Volkwagen to optimize its automated traffic management system using quantum processing, and should come in handy for smart city planners who need to process massive sums of data.

“Keep in mind that quantum computing is still in an early stage, similar to the computers of the 1950s. Now is the time for the industry to explore what quantum computers can do and how to use them,” IBM’s Research VP (IBM Q Strategy and Ecosystem) Bob Sutor told Tech Wire Asia.

THE CXO’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF QUANTUM COMPUTING

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Microsoft’s commitment to bring Indian educators up to speed on the potential of quantum computing is mirrored by the commitment of Australia’s government agency for scientific research CSIRO, which laid out a comprehensive quantum computing plan for the country earlier this year. In that roadmap, CSIRO outlined how the Australian quantum computing technology trade could generate US$4 billion dollars per year, as well as create over 16,000 jobs by 2040.

Key themes that will be covered by Microsoft’s program in India include an introduction to quantum information, quantum concepts such as superposition and entanglement, processing of information using qubits and quantum gates, along with an introduction to quantum machine learning and quantum programming.

The post Microsoft is sowing the seeds for India’s quantum computing future appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

According to a new ‘roadmap’ plotted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, Australia’s government agency for scientific research, the Australian quantum computing technology industry will generate US$4 billion dollars annually and 16,000 jobs by 2040.

Rapidly being developed and researched, quantum computing will be able to solve problems classical computers can’t. 

While computing giants like IBM and Google are leading with the most advanced superconducting technology, startups that can offer quantum-computing-as-a-service could make the technology available to a wider pool of companies earlier. 

In CSIRO’s report, Growing Australia’s Quantum Technology Industry, the agency identifies actions to ensure Australia’s world-class research and quantum computing startups support long-term and ‘thriving’ economic growth, empowering industries through applications such as mineral exploration, drug discovery and secure communications.

CSIRO says the time for Australia to advance is now, having established itself as a pioneer in the field of quantum technology research and development for more than two decades. Those efforts are coming into fruition through the emergence of quantum technology startups. 

“Australia can become an important part of a global quantum industry supply chain, contributing to fundamental scientific knowledge and developing intellectual property and advanced technologies that can be exported and monetized,” the report reads. 

“However, in the context of booming private investment and strategic commitments by its international peers, Australia must act now to build upon its strengths in quantum technology R&D and position itself to capture this opportunity.” 

The roadmap broadly comprises a four-pronged approach, including;

• Development of a national quantum technology strategy to implement planned actions and to set long-term strategic priorities, commitments, and indicators of success for Australia’s quantum industry
• The attraction, training and retention of quantum talent and an assessment of the future quantum technology workforce’s skill needs to inform strategic capability development and growth
• The exploration of efficient and effective funding mechanisms to support the demonstration and commercialization of quantum technology applications and enable the growth of emerging quantum businesses
• An assessment of industry capabilities and infrastructure facilities that will be critical to the success of a domestic quantum industry, and the development of business cases to address any gaps

CSIRO believes quantum computing can be the most promising long-term opportunity for Australia, while the agency’s chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said quantum technology can help Australia grow a sustainable technology industry.

“As Australia recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, we will need to create new industries to give Australia an unfair advantage globally to produce unique high margin products that support higher wages,” Dr Marshall said.

“Science and Technology are the key to economic prosperity in a world driven by disruption.”

Dr Cathy Foley, the agency’s chief scientist, added that to realize this huge potential across industries, researchers and industry need to work together to overcome development challenges.

“Quantum computing has the potential to contribute more than AU$2.5 billion to the economy each year, while spurring breakthroughs in drug development, more efficient industrial processes, and accelerated machine learning systems,” Dr Foley said.

“The commercialization of quantum enhanced sensors and communications technologies could also generate upwards of AU$1.7 billion revenue.

“To realize these opportunities, we need a national conversation about a coordinated, collaborative approach to growing a thriving domestic quantum economy.”

As competition in quantum computing heats up across the world, Australia already has a number of early stage startups developed in its universities that have attracted hundreds of millions in investment over the last few years. 

One of those is Sydney-based Q-CTRL –  a company that applies the principles of control engineering to accelerate the development of quantum technology. Founder and CEO, Michael J. Biercuk, told Tech Wire Asia that Australia “had the makings of something exceptional.”

“It’s gratifying to see that vision advancing towards a unified approach to turn local research capabilities into economic prosperity.

THE CXO’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF QUANTUM COMPUTING

Soumik Roy | 18 March, 2019

“It’s exciting to see that the strength of the research sector which drew me to Australia 10 years ago is now transitioning into a world-class industrial base,” he said. 

“I truly believe that quantum technology represents Australia’s most promising technological and export opportunity of our generation.”

The post Australia plots course for commercial quantum computing supremacy appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Researchers at Penn State University think that they have hit upon a solution that could greatly accelerate the process of discovering a COVID-19 treatment, employing an innovative hybrid branch of research known as quantum machine learning.

When it comes to a computer science-driven approach to identifying a cure, most methodologies harness machine learning to screen different compounds one at a time to see if they might bond with the virus’ main protease, or protein.

This process is arduous and time-consuming, despite the fact that the most powerful computers were actually condensing years (maybe decades) of drug testing into less than two years’ time. “Discovering any new drug that can cure a disease is like finding a needle in a haystack,” said lead researcher Swaroop Ghosh, the Joseph R. and Janice M. Monkowski Career Development Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering at Penn State.

It is also incredibly expensive. Ghosh says the current pipeline for discovering new drugs can take between five and ten years from the concept stage to being released to the market, and could cost billions in the process.

“High-performance computing such as supercomputers and artificial intelligence (AI) can help accelerate this process by screening billions of chemical compounds quickly to find relevant drug candidates,” he elaborated.

“This approach works when enough chemical compounds are available in the pipeline, but unfortunately this is not true for COVID-19. This project will explore quantum machine learning to unlock new capabilities in drug discovery by generating complex compounds quickly.”

Quantum machine learning is an emerging field that combines elements of machine learning with quantum physics. Ghosh and his doctoral students had in the past developed a toolset for solving a specific set of problems known as combinatorial optimization problems, using quantum computing.

Drug discovery computation aligns with combinatorial optimization problems, allowing the researchers to tap the same toolset in the hopes of speeding up the process of discovering a cure, in a more cost-effective fashion.

THE CXO’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF QUANTUM COMPUTING

Soumik Roy | 18 March, 2019

“Artificial intelligence for drug discovery is a very new area,” Ghosh said. “The biggest challenge is finding an unknown solution to the problem by using technologies that are still evolving — that is, quantum computing and quantum machine learning. We are excited about the prospects of quantum computing in addressing a current critical issue and contributing our bit in resolving this grave challenge.”

The post Could quantum machine learning hold the key to treating COVID-19? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.