Monthly Archives: April 2022

SYDNEY, March 30, 2022 Q-CTRL, a global leader in developing useful quantum technologies, today announced a partnership with The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerlands largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences, to pioneer R&D in the scale-up of quantum computers. The strategic partnership will leverage Q-CTRL and PSIs combined expertise to deliver transformational capabilities to the broader research community.

This partnership builds on the collaboration of PSI and ETH Zurich, one of the worlds premier public research universities and a quantum science powerhouse, who formed the ETH Zurich PSI Quantum Computing Hub in May 2021 on PSIs campus in Villigen. Both are working to translate groundbreaking quantum computing research into building systems at scale. Theyve now partnered with Q-CTRL to provide the critical infrastructure software tools for system characterization, AI-based automation, and hardware optimization that are essential for large-scale quantum computing to become reality.

Q-CTRLs focus on solving the automation and performance challenges in large-scale quantum computing align perfectly with the PSI Quantum Computing Hubs mission, said Q-CTRL Founder and CEO Professor Michael J. Biercuk. Were honored to partner with the exceptional engineers and researchers at PSI to combine their system engineering prowess with infrastructure software to truly move the research field forward.

As PSI seeks to scale up quantum hardware, Q-CTRLs unique expertise in quantum control and AI-based automation makes the company a natural fit to help accelerate the pathway to the first useful quantum computers. Both teams have extensive experience in quantum computing based on trapped ions, including specialized approaches in error correction leveraging the unique properties of trapped ions. Together, PSI and Q-CTRL will aim to solve the critical challenges enabling large-scale, quantum-error-corrected quantum computing to become a reality.

Q-CTRLs hardware agnostic, yet hardware-aware tools will be very valuable in finding optimal control solutions that ensure uniform performance across larger qubit arrays, said Dr. Cornelius Hempel, Group head, Ion Trap Quantum Computing, Paul Scherrer Institute. As we go to larger and larger machines and continuous operation of testbeds, efficient and automated tuneup and calibration procedures become an essential aspect of day-to-day operations its just not possible to continue using brute-force approaches at scale. Our team is very excited to leverage the tools the Q-CTRL team has developed in this space.

The computational power of quantum computing is expected to deliver transformational capabilities in applications ranging from drug discovery and enterprise logistics to finance. However, the underlying hardware is extremely unstable and fragile, hampering these machines from reaching their full potential. Q-CTRL is focused on delivering hardware-agnostic and fully automated error-suppressing enterprise software that will enable useful quantum computing for organizations around the world. Its team was recently awarded a US SBIR grant from the Department of Energy focused on quantum computer automation, and this partnership will build on those research developments.

To learn more about Q-CTRL, please visit: q-ctrl.com.

About Q-CTRL

Q-CTRL is building the quantum technology industry by overcoming the fundamental challenge in the field hardware error and instability. Q-CTRLs quantum control infrastructure software for R&D professionals and quantum computing end users delivers the highest performance error-correcting and suppressing techniques globally, and provides a unique capability accelerating the pathway to the first useful quantum computers. This foundational technology also applies to a new generation of quantum sensors, and enables Q-CTRL to shape and underpin every application of quantum technology.

Q-CTRL has assembled the worlds foremost team of expert quantum-control engineers, providing solutions to many of the most advanced quantum computing and sensing teams globally. Q-CTRL has been an inaugural member of the IBM Quantum Startup network since 2018, and recently announced a partnership with Transport for NSW, delivering its enterprise infrastructure software to transport data scientists exploring quantum computing. Q-CTRL is funded by SquarePeg Capital, Sierra Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Data Collective, Horizons Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Airbus Ventures, and Ridgeline Partners. The company has international headquarters in Sydney, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

About PSI

The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI is the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences in Switzerland, conducting cutting-edge research in three main fields: matter and materials, energy and the environment and human health. PSI develops, builds and operates complex large research facilities such as the synchrotron Swiss Light Source (SLS), the free-electron X-ray laser SwissFEL and the SINQ neutron source. PSI employs 2100 people and is primarily financed by the Swiss Confederation. The institution provides access to its large research facilities via a User Service to researchers from universities, other research centers and industry.

Source: Q-CTRL

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Q-CTRL Partners with The Paul Scherrer Institute to Support the Scale-Up of Quantum Computers - HPCwire

Energy company E.ON is working with IBM on using quantum computing to optimise the delivery of renewable energy.

In an online media briefing last week, Victoria Ossadnik, chief operating officer - digital at E.ON SE, said the need to transition away from fossil fuels is an urgent but highly complex task.

Both supply and demand are much less predictable: renewables are affected by the weather, and heat pumps and electric vehicles (EVs) use electricity rather than gas or petrol, requiring grid upgrades and new cabling to support them. Increasingly, the cost of delivering electricity is outstripping that of generation as infrastructure creaks under the strain.

E.ON is one of Europe's largest operators of energy networks and infrastructure, running power stations, renewable generation facilities, power grids and EV charge points across Europe. The firm has a target to educe emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, and currently connects more than 40,000 renewable assets each year to a grid infrastructure that was designed for much more predictable workloads. These new sources are making the grid more and more complex and more vulnerable to failure, Ossadnik said.

Adding to this complexity is the emerging peer-to-peer energy market, where households and businesses can trade power generated from rooftop directly to consumers.

Managing decentralised power networks with potentially millions of small sources, their output varying with the weather, means staying on top of a huge number of variables. There is a limit to what even the largest supercomputer can do in this scenario, and there are some requirements that are simply beyond the bounds of classical computers, however powerful.

Optimising complex systems is a key strength of quantum computers, which is why, even though the technology is in its infancy, E.ON is getting in on the bottom rung.

It may be early days, but according to IDC analyst Stefano Perini, the quantum computing market was worth more than $700 million in 2021 and is expected to be $3.5 billion by 2025. Not huge numbers, perhaps, but an impressive rate of growth. Currently, this growth is being driven by financial services and manufacturing, but with the need for rapid decarbonisation it makes sense that energy companies get on board too.

"All these industries are united by the need to address extremely important innovation challenges around their business and operating models," Perini said. "We can expect that quantum computing will be one of the important enablers of the energy transition."

Quantum computers will play a complementary role to high performance computing (HPC) and AI rather than replacing them, said Ossadnik. Their ability to try multiple calculations at once (rather than having to iterate through the alternatives) makes them ideal for solving problems like grid balancing and optimal cable routing, where hundreds of thousands of variables may come into play. And while they are not suitable for big data, they can be very useful in designing better predictive algorithms and ML models that can incorporate many more dimensions.

Quantum computers will help ask better questions of the data, Ossadnik added, for example where to optimally lay cables in a big, crowded, historic city like Hamburg or London.

"We need to put much, much, much more cable into the ground, but you need to find out what do you really need which kind of infrastructure. This is a super complex system, because of this highly volatile demand and highly volatile supply, and with a quantum computer we can give it hundreds of thousands of little bits of information and find out which model is supported best."

Early tests using IBM's quantum cloud services have already helped improve these infrastructure models, but potential applications go further. For example, designing algorithms that can provide the right nudge factor' to ensure behaviours align with the availability of power.

"What happens when everyone charges their cars and runs their heat pumps on a cold, windless night? The next morning the city just won't have anybody going to work because unfortunately the cars are not charged. This shouldn't happen, and that means we need to control this in a super smart way. In a highly democratic society how do we do this? We need to learn which algorithm is best, how we can incentivise people to behave in the right way and to protect the energy resources in the short term, and this is where we would use quantum computing."

Heike Riel, head of science & technology and lead of IBM Research Quantum Europe, believes the technology will have a crucial role in developing other cleaner technologies. Since, at the sub-atomic level, all matter is governed by quantum physics, the ability of quantum computers to model the behaviour of atoms and molecules will be far greater than anything currently possible. This has important implications for battery design; the complex chemical processes that occur in batteries are still poorly understood.

"If we better understand all these processes we can better optimise the batteries, which means that we can reduce the weight of electric cars because you need less battery to store the same energy," she explained.

Riel offered other cases where the ability to better understand matter at the atomic scale could advance the sustainability cause. For example, the race is on to find materials that can efficiently adsorb CO2 so it can be removed from the atmosphere, and to find alternatives to energy-intensive industrial practices such as the Haber-Bosch process used to produce ammonia for fertilizer - fertilizer production consumes 3 per cent of global power.

So, tasks are already being lined up for the nascent technology to tackle, but with most current devices requiring operating temperatures around 10 milli-Kelvin ("100 times colder than outer space"), is there a risk that the energy required to refrigerate them negates the gains? Not at all said Riel, pointing out that the IBM Summit supercomputer has a peak power of 15 MW, while IBM's current quantum computers run on a 36 kW supply.

"In general it's really much lower power. Also you have to keep in mind you can solve questions in the future which you cannot even solve with a classical computer - even if you make it bigger and bigger and bigger it would just consume more and more and more power."

Excerpt from:

E.ON using IBM quantum cloud to optimise renewables - http://www.computing.co.uk

Whos News: Management Additions to the Quantum Teams at ColdQuanta, Rigetti, Multiverse, and IonQ

ColdQuanta has named Chris Wood as VP Photonics Technologies; Alex Olivas as VP Software Engineering & Operations, Kathy Crawfordas Chief People Officer andPrateek Lalas General Counsel. Previously, Chris Wood has held various executive roles at Insight Lidar, Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories (KLM) Inc., and Precision Photonics. Alex Olivas was previously with theUniversity of Maryland College Park. Kathy Crawford previously was the Chief People Officer at LightDeck Diagnostics and also has prior experience atLivaNova, Arca Biopharma and Thermo Fisher Scientific. And Prateek Lal was previously Deputy General Cousel at Momentus and before that Senior Legal Counsel at Luminar Technologies. He was instrumental in the closing of SPAC deals for both of those companies. You can access ColdQuantas news releases about these appointments here and here.

Rigetti Computing has added Greg Peters as Chief Revenue Officer. Peters previously held executive roles at Keysight Technologies, Agilent Technologies, and Hewlett-Packard. You can view Rigettis news release with the announcement here.

Multiverse Computing has appointed Mehdi Bozzo-Rey as Chief Revenue Officer. Bozzo-Rey most recently was with the Quantum Algorithms Institute and has also held positions at Cambridge Quantum and IBM.

And IonQ has hired Laurie Babinski as General Counsel, and Anant Sanchetee as Senior Director of Marketing. Babinski was previously Deputy General Counsel at Credit Karma and Sanchetee was Head of Brand and Product Marketing forMeta AI. IonQs press release with this announcement is available here.

April 3, 2022

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Who's News: Management Additions to the Quantum Teams at ColdQuanta, Rigetti, Multiverse, and IonQ - Quantum Computing Report

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in trapped-ion quantum computing, was named to TIMEs annual TIME100 Most Influential Companies list. This ranking highlights 100 companies that are making an extraordinary impact across the globe.

IonQ is honored to be a part of this years TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, said Peter Chapman, President and CEO of IonQ. TIMEs recognition of quantum computings impact, and its specific recognition of IonQs role as an industry leader underscores the viability and promise of whats possible as we usher in the era of quantum computing.

IonQ was selected for inclusion in the New Frontiers category. To assemble the list, TIME solicited nominations from every sectorranging from health care and entertainment to transportation and technologyfrom its editors and correspondents around the world, as well as from industry experts. TIME editors then evaluated each nominee on factors including company relevance, impact, innovation, leadership and success.

IonQ's inclusion in the TIME100 is the company's latest achievement in a year of significant momentum in business and technical breakthroughs. On Monday, IonQ announced the Companys Q4 2021 and Full Year 2021 earnings. During this announcement, the team highlighted remarkable technology progress and announced that it achieved more than triple its original bookings projection. In October, IonQ became the first publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company.

As for technical breakthroughs, this year, IonQ introduced IonQ Aria, the worlds most powerful quantum computer, based on standard application-oriented industry benchmarks; discovered a new family of quantum gates that can accelerate quantum algorithms and can only be conducted on IonQ and Duke University systems; became the first company to use barium ions as qubits to further enable advanced quantum computing architectures; and secured a public-private manufacturing partnership with Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) to produce barium qubits. IonQ is also the only quantum hardware company with computers accessible on all three major cloud providers, and its computers are being used to tackle problems ranging from financial modeling to electric vehicle battery chemistry and risk management.

See the complete TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2022 list here: time.com/100companies

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. is a leader in quantum computing, with a proven track record of innovation and deployment. IonQs latest generation quantum computer, IonQ Aria, is the worlds most powerful quantum computer, and IonQ has defined what it believes is the best path forward to scale.

IonQ is the only company with its quantum systems available through the cloud on Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as through direct API access. IonQ was founded in 2015 by Christopher Monroe and Jungsang Kim based on 25 years of pioneering research. To learn more, visit http://www.ionq.com.

About TIME

TIME is a global media brand that reaches a combined audience of more than 100 million around the world. A trusted destination for reporting and insight, TIME's mission is to tell the stories that matter most, to lead conversations that change the world and to deepen understanding of the ideas and events that define our time. With unparalleled access to the world's most influential people, the immeasurable trust of consumers globally, an unrivaled power to convene, TIME is one of the world's most recognizable media brands with renowned franchises that include the TIME100 Most Influential People, Person of the Year, Firsts, Best Inventions, World's Greatest Places and premium events including the TIME100 Summit and Gala, TIME100 Health Summit, TIME100 Next and more.

IonQ Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Some of the forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words. Statements that are not historical in nature, including the words anticipate, expect, suggests, plan, believe, intend, estimates, targets, projects, should, could, would, may, will, forecast and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include those related to IonQ Arias technical achievements, future potential, and status in the quantum computing industry. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: market adoption of quantum computing solutions and IonQs products, services and solutions; the ability of IonQ to protect its intellectual property; changes in the competitive industries in which IonQ operates; changes in laws and regulations affecting IonQs business; IonQs ability to implement its business plans, forecasts and other expectations, and identify and realize additional partnerships and opportunities; and the risk of downturns in the market and the technology industry including, but not limited to, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent incursion into Ukraine. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors section of IonQs Quarterly Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and other documents filed by IonQ from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and IonQ assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. IonQ does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

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IonQ Named As One Of TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies - Business Wire

NEW YORK & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--3DR HOLDINGS, the parent company behind Inside Quantum Technology (www.insidequantumtechnology.com) and 3DPrint.com (www.3dprint.com) has announced its latest event in a series of conferences and exhibitions dedicated entirely to Quantum Computing. Inside Quantum Technology - San Diego takes place May 10-12 in sunny Southern California at the San Diego Convention Center.

IQT San Diego will feature 90+ speakers, 34 sessions and covers nine vertical aspects of the Quantum Enterprise including aerospace, automotive, national security, enterprise and more. Jack Hidary of SandboxAQ will offer the opening keynote with other speakers covering some of the biggest names in tech and Wall Street including IBM Quantum, Amazon Web Services, Merck, MasterCard, ColdQuanta and Toshiba, just to name a few.

The event also features a hybrid format which allows for both in-person and online attendance as the world comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 30 global exhibitors from around the world will take part in the festivities.

Inside Quantum Technology has long been an advocate for quantum being part of our technological great leap forward, as quantum computing and quantum safe environments are adapted in businesses and government organizations, said Alan Meckler, CEO of 3DR Holdings. We have the only quantum computing conference where the speakers are organized by a recognized expert in the field Lawrence Gasman which ensures high quality for paid attendees. In addition we expect to have the largest exhibition to date of quantum technology vendors.

Inside Quantum Technology San Diego features:

Inside Quantum Technology San Diego includes the latest online technology to help attendees meet new colleagues and discuss new opportunities in the quantum enterprise space. The event will enable attendees to simultaneously network in-person and online with speakers, exhibitors, and other attendees to exchange experiences and conduct business.

Complete program and attendance information is available at http://www.iqtevent.com.

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Inside Quantum Technology Announces the First Conference and Exhibition Devoted Entirely to the Quantum Enterprise - Business Wire

This is a special sneak preview of the Neural Newsletter. Were talking about quantum technologies, trying to figure out who observes the observers, and sharing the further adventures of Bella the puppy this week. Dont forget to sign up here so you can science up your Saturdays if you havent already.

Howdy folks,

Ive spent the past few months taking a deep dive into the quantum services industry.

What began as a quest to understand thebusinessside of quantum computing turned out to be an odyssey of discovery.

Ive been frenetically transcribing interviews (yawn), researching the market from a financial perspective (yuck!), and studying physics like nobodys business (yay!).

And the sum of my findings? Were living in the last few moments before quantum technologies become as important and commonplace as AI, the internet, and electricity.

I cant wait to share more with you over the next few months.

The last time I was this excited about a future-facing technology was when deep learning came to prominence in the wake of Ian Goodfellow (et al.)s paper on global adversarial networks.

I believe quantum technologies will have a greater impact on humanity than anything that came before including fire.

And its all coming much sooner than you think.

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Spooky action in your inbox - The Next Web

Sean Gallup/Getty Images News

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a large tech giant that continues to dominate internet search with 85% of searches performed via Google. The firm has a duopoly on the online advertising market with a 27% market share, along with Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook (FB). However, what differentiates Google from Meta is their dominance in search and they also own the world's most popular web browser (Chrome at 64% share) and the world's number one mobile operating system (Android), which has a 71% market share . This makes Google the backbone of the internet and gives them the ability to call the shots.

The firm recently announced it will be removing third party tracking cookies from their Chrome browser. This may not seem like a big deal but as a digital marketer & investor, I know this is huge. Their main advertising rival Meta Platforms (Facebook) uses third party (pixel) cookies in order to track users and improve advertising results. The firm has had to rethink their entire tracking system, in order to combat the change. The way this change sent shockwaves through the internet is testament to the power Google has.

The really special thing about this company is their internet search dominance is just the tip of the iceberg. From a high growth cloud business (44% revenue growth in FY2021) to Moonshots such as autonomous driving (Waymo) and Quantum computing, the firm is poised for continued growth & has lots of optionality for the future. Given the firm has been buying back shares aggressively ($50 billion in 2021), they are poised to become the most valuable business on the planet. Lets dive into the reasons why, my valuation and risks.

Note: I will use the words Alphabet and Google interchangeably in this post to refer to the firm, for easy reading.

Alphabet is the true backbone of the internet via:

Google search (85% of search traffic)

Chrome (64% market share)

Android (71% market share)

YouTube (world's most popular video platform)

Google Services also includes Google Maps, the most popular mobile map app by downloads and Gmail which is the most popular email client. Google's dominance in the internet ecosystem is unmatched. These dominant monopoly-like backbone platforms are monetised via Google in the form of advertising, which makes up over 90% of the firm's revenues.

Alphabet has a thriving cloud unit, Google Cloud which made up 7.4% of revenues, but is the fastest growing part of the business (44% revenue growth FY2021). Google Cloud is currently the third largest cloud provider (10% market share) behind Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Google has always had a culture of experimentation and taking calculated bets, such as Waymo, the self-driving car unit and even Quantum computing. These types of bets are called Moonshots by Google and although not generating significant cash flows yet, they represent heaps of optionality in the stock. Alphabet is currently investing over $31 billion per year in these "Other Bets". This is a large amount of capital but still only makes up a slither of revenues, 0.2% of annual turnover.

Google Revenue Breakdown (Created by author Motivation 2 Invest)

Waymo, is one of the business units that could disrupt the entire transport industry with its self-driving vehicles. The global autonomous market was valued at $76.13 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach a ginormous $2.1 trillion by 2030, which is a massive CAGR of 40.1% between 2021 to 2030.

Waymo is a leader in the industry and not just a theoretical firm like many others out there right now. The firm already has working autonomous vehicle operations right now in Arizona, for the average person. Yeah, thats right. You can download Waymo One, the ride-hailing app and hail your very own self-driving vehicle with no human driver. But that's not all. Waymo announced very recently (March 30th 2022) they are rolling out self-driving operations in San Francisco. Employees of Waymo and people who sign up for the Trusted Testers program can now hail fully autonomous vehicles. This is a game changer as similar to the traditional ride-hailing business such as Uber & Lyft, market dominance is determined by capturing the major cities. I also noticed Waymo's marketing has improved substantially on their website and it is now truly offering a strong consumer value proposition.

The firm also has Waymo Via solution for autonomous trucking, which is set to address the major logistics challenges, such as truck driver shortages & dangerous accidents. Waymo recently announced a partnership with C.H. Robinson, one of the worlds largest logistics platforms, which will give the firm vast access to data & testing lanes.

Quantum computing is another Moonshot which is further away but offers huge optionality for the future. A couple of years back Alphabet created a quantum computer which achieved quantum supremacy, outperforming a traditional computer for a specific complex calculation. More recently Google opened a quantum computer data center and R&D lab, where they plan to build a commercial grade quantum computer (1 million qubits) by 2029.

In addition, Alphabet recently announced the acquisition of Madiant, a leader in cyber security for $5.4 billion. This expands Alphabets reach into another high growth, high TAM market, as well as helping to protect their own core business.

Alphabets Financials are tremendous, the firm brought in $257 billion in 2021, up an astonishing 41% year over year. For a company of this scale, that is truly astonishing. Operating profit nearly doubled also from $41 billion in 2020 to $78 billion in 2021, with a high 33% operating margin. The firm has a strong Return on Capital of 26% and Return on Equity of 32%.

Google Financials (Created by author at Y Charts)

Google Cloud is also getting closer to profitability and if they continue to grow at a similar rate, they will hit a $100 billion in revenue run rate by 2025. If Google Cloud can achieve a 20% operating margin, which is lower than AWS at 30%, they would add an extra $20 billion to Alphabet's income.

Alphabet margins (created by author at Ycharts)

The firms balance sheet is a fortress and they have what I believe to be the largest cash position of any other stock on the planet, with $139.4 billion as of Q42021. Amazon (AMZN) comes closest with a merger of $96 billion in cash & cash equivalents. This large cash position has been criticised by many on Wall Street, however this does offer the opportunity for continued buybacks (over $50 billion) in 2021. This would put Alphabet on a similar path to Apple (AAPL) which has invested close to $500 billion in buybacks, reducing their stock by 35% which helped to boost their market cap to $2.84 trillion.

I have valued Alphabet using my advanced valuation model, which uses the discounted cash flow method of valuation. This takes into account the company's R&D investment, lease obligations, employee options and more.

Alphabet Valuation (Created by author at Motivation 2 invest)

I have been very conservative with my estimates of growth, estimating 10% for next year and 8% for the next 2 to 5 years. I have predicted the pre-tax operating margins to hold steady at 33%

Alphabet Valuation (Created by author at Y charts)

From this calculation I get a fair value of Alphabet of $1.7 trillion, with a stock valuation (pre-split) of $2649. The stock dropped below this fair value to $2597/share just a few weeks ago but has now spiked up by 7% as the market recognised the discount. Today the stock trades at 6% over the fair value, as of the time of writing.

In terms of a relative valuation against other FAANG stocks (excluding Netflix), Alphabet trades at one of the lowest P/E Ratios 24, which is lower than both Apple (P/E = 28) and Amazon (P/E = 67). Only Meta Platforms trades cheaper (P/E Ratio = 18), but they have recently had user growth declines.

PE Ratio Tech Stocks (Created by author at Y Charts)

The same story is true for EV/EBITDA multiples with Alphabet trading at the 2nd cheapest (EV to EBITDA = 14) compared to other big tech stocks, Amazon (EV to EBITDA = 19) and Apple (EV to EBITDA = 22).

EV to EBITDA (Created by author at Y Charts)

Alphabet currently makes over 90% of their revenues from their advertising business. Now although this has been a great cash generator so far, the firms revenue base is not diversified and that is a major risk. This risk became apparent in 2020, when the global pandemic caused advertisers to reduce ad spending, which caused the stock to sell off. I personally saw this as a buying opportunity, but it still is a risk moving forward. The firm's other business units such as Google Cloud and even a few Moonshot bets are starting to pay off. So, I expect this risk to get less moving forward.

The advertising market is vast and competitive. Google dominates along with Meta (Facebook); however, their market share is starting to be eaten by Amazon Ads. From the graph below, it is clear to see a declining trend in Googles market share from 31.6% in 2019 to an expected 26% by 2023, while Amazon's Advertising market share is expected to double to 14.6%. Then there are disruptive social media platforms such as TikTok and programmatic advert providers such as Taboola and Outbrain, which are starting to gain traction.

Large tech firms globally are in the sights of regulators & governments, who are intent on challenging their market power. Google faces multiple antitrust cases, including one which alleges the firm abuses its market power on the mobile app store. There is a violation tracker online which shows the multiple fines and lawsuits Google has been given, one of which was $500 million!

I personally believe the large amount of cash on Googles balance sheet makes the firm a greater target. Despite the amount of lawyers & legal compliance the firm goes through, there will always be this cost of doing business. You could call this death by 1000 paper cuts, which is a real threat to gigantic firms and could stifle innovation.

Alphabet is a tremendous tech giant which is the true backbone of the internet. Google has a virtual monopoly on internet search and a strong core advertising business. The firm's cloud business is growing fast & is expected to become profitable in the next few years. Whereas Googles Moonshot opportunities are starting to hit major milestones, with the likes of Waymo making strong progress in major cities. Alphabets financial position is powerful and they have what I estimate to be the largest cash position of any global firm. With a series of immense buybacks lined up and many tailwinds ahead, this firm has the potential to become the most valuable business on the planet.

The stock is currently trading at 6% above my fair value, but is still relatively cheap compared to other large tech firms. Thus, Google is an ideal company to park cash in, as a long-term investment, despite being slightly overvalued. However, should the firm have another pullback that will offer a greater opportunity to load up the truck.

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Google: Backbone Of The Internet, With Moonshots Becoming A Reality - Seeking Alpha

While most messaging apps promise end-to-end encryption, they suffer from 2 fundamental flaws.

Firstly, they are usually governed by a central authority and depend on centralized servers. These servers store all the metadata of your conversations and are vulnerable to attacks. Further, the central authority also controls your data, and they can use it as they deem fit.

The second problem is that end-to-end encryption will become obsolete once we enter the age of quantum computing (more on this later).

To address these issues, a new generation of messaging apps has emerged. They are decentralized, quantum-resistant and will effectively future-proof private communication. And at the forefront of these up-and-coming messaging apps is the xx messenger.

The xx network

The xx network is a full-stack platform with a layer one blockchain that is quantum resistant. It is one of the most private communications networks in the world right now. One unique aspect of the network is that its communication layer even obfuscates the metadata of your chats. This provides an added level of security.

Any application or blockchain platform can route its traffic to the xx network for secure and quantum-proofed end-to-end communication.

The crowning jewel of the network is its decentralized messaging application, xx messenger. It embodies all the features that the xx network promises. It is an end-to-end quantum secure messaging application that obfuscates metadata.

Both the xx network and the messenger are the creation of David Chaum, a computer scientist and cryptographer known as the 'godfather of cryptocurrency'. In 1982, way before Satoshi Nakamoto published his now-famous white paper, Chaum published a dissertation titled, "Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups,". This was the first blockchain protocol to exist.

Features of the xx messenger

xx messenger is not just a proof-of-concept utilizing state of the art quantum technology; it is a full-fledged messenger with modern features expected from any top-of-the-line messaging application. It offers popular features such as group chats, audio, and video sharing. It is also very easy to sign up on xx messenger. You do not have to link an existing account, number, or email ID.

Instead, you only have to provide a pseudonym. This makes it free from any form of real-world identification. The application only relies on its underpinning privacy-preserving technology to give users the ultimate privacy communication experience.

The quantum computing problem

We have repeatedly used the phrase quantum protected or quantum proofing, but to really appreciate this feature, we must understand what quantum computing refers to in this context.

Quantum computing applies the principle of quantum physics to the world of computers. Quantum physics relates to understanding problems and physical concepts at atomic and sub-atomic levels. The working of a computer or its smallest unit, a transistor, can also be put in terms of quantum physics.

Today's computers use the binary digits - 0 and 1 - as the most basic levelled instructions. In machine language, 1 refers to a true statement, and 0 refers to a false statement. A combination of these digits can be used to form complex instructions, and that is how all computer instructions are formed.

But due to the concept of 'Quantum superposition', it is possible for a machine to read both digits simultaneously. While quantum computers do not exist now, experts believe that it is only a matter of time before they do. These computers will be extremely powerful and would be able to crack the encryption standards we use today in minutes.

Chaum and his team at xx network have developed a quantum secure consensus algorithm known as xxBFT consensus to circumvent this problem.

The consensus model ensures that the network is protected from quantum computing attacks. The application's message mixing protocol called xx Cmix ensures that encryption cannot be broken and also provides a metadata shredding feature.

A decentralized network

On the other side of privacy is decentralization. It ensures that no organization, third-party or even the xx network itself can access a sender's or recipient's data. The xx messenger is built on top of the decentralized xx network.

The xx network uses a randomly selected pool of nodes on the network to help encrypt messages in sets of 1,000. The nodes continuously shuffle these messages and encrypt them. The nodes have an incentive to participate in the encryption they are rewarded in the blockchain's native currency for their effort in securing the network.

The xx network is also an open-source platform, meaning anyone with the technical know-how can contribute to the network and any application on it, including the xx messenger. The source code of the application is written in the Golang programming language.

The xx messenger aims to fill a gap in the market by providing a decentralized and quantum secure infrastructure that is robust and easy to use. The application is currently available on both IOS and Android Play Store for download.

Originally posted here:

Is the XX messenger the future of private communication? - CNBCTV18