Page 40 - EE Times Europe March 2022

40 EE|Times EUROPE

QUANTUM COMPUTING
Pasqal and Qu&Co Scale the Global Market for

Quantum Applications

By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio

u&Co and Pasqal are merging company reach an industry-relevant quan-
their businesses, combining tum advantage years earlier than without
Qu&Co’s robust portfolio of such a merger.
Qalgorithms with Pasqal’s full-stack “On the industry level, this merger means
neutral-atom system to accelerate the quan- that the European quantum computing
tum path to commercial applications. The industry has finally become mature enough to
united business, known as Pasqal and located compete on a global level, as Pasqal is offering
in Paris, will offer a 1,000-qubit quantum the most powerful quantum processors in the
solution in 2023, according to the disclosed world (up to 200 qubits), a large portfolio of
roadmaps of the most sophisticated quantum unique and proprietary quantum solutions
platforms. created and managed by a truly magnificent
team,” Reymond added.

QUANTUM HARDWARE
Today, quantum processors can be built on
a variety of platforms, including trapped An array of 14 × 14 atoms (Source: Pasqal)
ions, superconducting circuits, quantum
dots, and neutral atoms. Whichever method
is used, designers must overcome two major Third, the quantum computers developed by
obstacles: scaling up the ensemble size Pasqal consume very little energy — as much
while maintaining high-quality control over as four hair dryers. Finally, Pasqal’s qubits
the parameters and verifying the outputs can be controlled using light, a powerful tool
for these complex systems. Neutral-atom tailored to almost any need. To do that, Pasqal
device topologies are one of a kind in many uses a single laser, which is then split into
aspects, not only when compared with clas- several laser beams. That means this solution
sical devices in general but also concerning is highly scalable, as it allows the control of
quantum analogs. In comparison with other hundreds of qubits.
quantum devices, neutral-atom platforms, for Software-agnostic quantum processing
Pasqal’s Georges-Olivier Reymond instance, can easily achieve quantum registers units can operate at room temperature
with a larger number of qubits, as well as with less energy, enabling them to tackle
higher connectivity. complex problems more efficiently than
Qu&Co’s portfolio of quantum algorithms According to Pasqal, this approach offers classical computers.
will be tightly integrated with Pasqal’s many advantages. First, the setup can work at The most promising use of Pasqal’s QPU is
advanced quantum hardware, providing room temperature, and it does not need to be a quantum simulation, in which the quantum
added value to customers such as Johnson & cooled down. Second, all the items are struc- processor is used to learn about a quantum
Johnson, LG, Airbus, and BMW Group. The turally identical, as they are built by nature. system of interest. As Richard Feynman
combined company will offer a wide range of
quantum solutions in chemistry, life sciences,
automotive, electronics, utilities, aerospace,
defense, finance, and other sectors.
In an interview with EE Times Europe,
Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO of Pasqal,
said the merger enables the combined com-
pany to fast-track the implementation of its
R&D roadmap, recruit top talent, achieve an
industry-relevant quantum advantage much
sooner, and serve more clients with new,
unique, and proprietary quantum solutions.
“Following the merger, the combined com-
pany is now a much larger full-stack quantum
computing company,” he explained. “For cli-
ents, this means that the combined company
will be able to speed up the development of
quantum solutions and better optimize the
performance of the algorithms and software
relative to their hardware. This will help the

MARCH 2022 | www.eetimes.eu