Miniaturizing Quantum Dragons...
... and Diamond-Based Quantum Processors
Quantum Brilliance recently announced that it raised USD $20 million in a Series A funding round that included Main Sequence, In-Q-Tel (IQT), Intervalley Ventures, National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Breakthrough Victoria (BV), Alium Capital Management, Investible, and Jelix Ventures. After The Quantum Dragon blew away the straw words and stick words of the announcement — he thought he was the Big Bad Wolf for a moment — the remaining brick words spelled out “integrated quantum chips.”
Here’s what that means for you and me.
Mass Deployability
Quantum Brilliance’s integrated quantum chips are applicable to quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communications. Quantum sensors are generally intended to be deployed everywhere, such as in automobiles and satellites, and with these integrated quantum chips, QB wants to introduce a GPU-sized QPU with 64 physical qubits by 2029, and with 64 logical qubits by 2034.
A cluster of 8U 400W units to be deployed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will each contain a CPU, QPU, and GPU. The integrated quantum chips will enable the productization of a Lunchbox QPU, which will be fully contained, plug-and-play, and connectible to GPUs. The company notes that a GPU-sized QPU doesn’t have to outperform a supercomputer; it simply has to outperform a GPU on a relevant task. It did not specify, however, whether the Lunchbox QPU could come with an image of Darth Vader on it.
Rack Mountability
There’s a lot of talk about collocating quantum computers at HPC centers, but Quantum Brilliance takes integration one step further. Its accelerators already fit into standard racks; simply slide them in and connect them. No special infrastructure is needed. The integrated quantum chips will further reduce rack space and power consumption.
The upper limit of qubits per chip is currently unknown, because 5 nm spacing theoretically allows for a billion qubits on a single chip. The classical motherboard will actually be the limiting factor. The heat from the CPU will not be a factor, though, because the QPU only requires the temperature to be stable, even if it is relatively hot.
Portability
Much of today’s discourse, again, is about collocating quantum computers into HPC centers, so what could we possibly need portable quantum computers for? One application is signal image processing in the field, such as in satellites. Another application is defense, where mobility decreases data loads and increases redundancy. There are also cybersecurity applications that I’m not going to put into writing, but QB has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract from Germany’s cybersecurity agency.
The integrated chip will actually start as a single-qubit, mobile sensor. That chip will then be a steppingstone for the multi-qubit chip that will be deployed within portable quantum computers.
Conclusion
Quantum Brilliance isn’t just talking the talk; it’s walking the walk. It’s not just talking about deploying QPUs in HPC centers; it has a strategic partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to actually do it. It’s not just talking about portability; it has a contract in Germany to deliver an actual portable QPU. And in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line above, you may have noticed that this roadmap includes quantum error correction, resulting in future fault-tolerant, mass-deployable, room-temperature, portable quantum computers and accelerators. You can read the full announcement here.
By the way, can you imagine who’s most excited about diamond-based QPUs?
That’s right: the future Mrs. Quantum Dragon….
Image generated by an AI model provided by Microsoft Copilot.