QuEra quantum computing startup raises $17 million

A new startup dedicated to quantum computing and born from researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), called QuEra Computing, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $17 million from investors, including the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

Although there are several technologies for creating so-called quantum bits, QuEra’s qubits use neutral atoms in a vacuum chamber, in which they are cooled and controlled by a laser.

“From 2015, when we had an empty lab, until 2017, the work we were doing at Harvard and MIT was already at the stage where we could control 51 of these qubits of neutral atoms,” said Alex Keesling, president of QuEra and co-inventor of technology.

Keesling said this technology is easy to develop and that QuEra will have a 1,000-qubit computer in two years. Currently, the company has a machine with a capacity of 256 qubits, according to him.

IBM, whose quantum computers are already available via cloud computing, is aiming for a machine of more than 1,000 qubits by 2023.

Several quantum computer researchers say it is difficult to compare the performance of different machines based on the number of qubits alone.

For those who want to test the QuEra machine, Keesling said the goal is to make it available through cloud computing services by the third quarter of next year.

While there is some debate over when quantum computers will be able to decipher real-world problems, researchers believe these machines can operate millions of times faster than today’s most advanced supercomputers.

This makes possible tasks such as mapping complex molecular structures and chemical reactions, as well as boosting the development of artificial intelligence.