The Future is Hybrid: How hybrid can accelerate the early industrial application of quantum computing.
There are many challenges in the pursuit of unleashing the power of quantum technologies today, such as:
- How to effectively harness quantum elements for classical software engineers in their development activities.
- How to inform executives about the disruptive innovation potential of the quantum information science spectrum.
- How to channel the flood of information coming from news and industry sources that regularly resets the basis for what quantum technologies are available and what may still be pure research.
However, there is rapid positive progress across the ecosystem towards overcoming these challenges. Quantum technologies now are gradually entering the spotlight, with many questions about their applicability and near-term benefits on the mind of forward-looking corporates.
The zeitgeist in the current era of quantum computing - the NISQ (Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum) era - is similar to the early days of classical computing or the dawn of the internet. Back then, few could grasp the magnitude of the impact a machine capable of simulating any other machine, performing arbitrary computations much faster than humans, and a conduit of global connectivity could have on business and society. The first quantum revolution has given us technologies such as the laser and the transistor, the latter making the computers we use in our everyday lives possible. We are currently in the second quantum revolution, which will give us technologies such as quantum computers, quantum sensors, quantum cryptography, and quantum-enhanced imaging.
Quantum computers alone are a core technology enabling us to find new materials, cure diseases through unprecedented drug discovery, and create stronger artificial intelligence, which, in turn, will power numerous applications and technologies. The list seems endless, from making the solutions to existing problems faster and more accurate to opening up the possibility of doing things that we could only dream of before. From creating a new sector for jobs to improving people's lives. The promise of quantum technologies is undoubtedly enormous. How and when we could collectively realise this promise needs to be made clear. An aspect that is hard to disagree on is that companies across sectors that correctly use quantum technologies for high-value applications will benefit greatly.
At Terra Quantum, we build products & solutions powered by quantum tech for our customers. We are led by science and make accessible our most mature IP across quantum algorithms, computing and safety. Our customers are after improvements for their industrial applications that can be realised by embedding quantum effectively. As we productionize quantum, a critical insight is that our customers want industrial-scale problems solved in complete complexity. To make this happen, "hybrid" is the crux.
Today, there is a clear divide between classical and quantum software and hardware. Hybridisation done right here changes the battle of "quantum VS classical" to "quantum AND classical". We build bridges between the quantum and classical worlds through a unified computing model that facilitates hybridisation across the stack. Our hybrid quantum computing approach builds on a partnership with QMware, a company providing hybrid quantum cloud solutions. Through custom hybrid pipelines that tightly couple software and hardware in QMware’s in-memory computing system, we build scalable quantum applications today. Our unique approach of including quantum elements in the application setup can often enhance the performance of existing solutions.
The capacity of native Quantum Processing Units to do valuable things today is limited. This limitation increases the importance of unique formulations, efficient encoding and decompression techniques that maximise the utility of these native QPUs. In addition to this, we could attribute the sources driving performance enhancements to:
- Quantum software & algorithms that navigate the solution space in fundamentally novel ways to handle problem complexity & dynamism
- Extent of hybridisation, driven by the level of physical integration and synchronisation across the stack
- Simulated QPUs that mimic the behaviour of native QPUs up to a certain extent and play a vital role in providing error-free results and evaluating scalability today
It is not sufficient to enhance the performance of these applications. We also should make the benefits understandable for anybody through "explainable quantum". At Terra Quantum, we provide our customers with utmost clarity on the quantum contribution to the performance improvements and how this works. For quantum technologies to be widely adopted, we have to make it easy for people to understand and provide the necessary transparency to build trust in the solutions.
We are delighted to share our white paper on hybrid quantum computing to drive the industry toward scaling adoption. You can read the report here.
Laura Foster
Laura is techUK’s Head of Programme for Technology and Innovation.
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
Elis Thomas
Elis joined techUK in December 2023 as a Programme Manager for Tech and Innovation, focusing on AI, Semiconductors and Digital ID.
