Monthly Archives: May 2022

Finns joke that their advantage in quantum computing is that the cold you need to run the processors comes for free. But make no mistake, the quantum ecosystem in Finland is heating up.

Helmi, a five-qubit computer inaugurated last November in Espoo, will this month connect to the LUMI supercomputer in Kajaani, making blended computing projects possible. And in April, the country inked a cooperation statement with the US for quantum information science and technology, the first such agreement with a country in mainland Europe.

That statement gives us credibility that we are a strong partner to work with, says Himadri Majumdar, who leads the quantum programme at state-owned research centre VTT. While weve had academic collaborations with the US for a long time, this opens up commercial opportunities for Finnish and US companies to collaborate and find solutions that are useful for both sides.

One concrete effect is that Finland has been endorsed for cooperation with the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), a body dedicated to the growth of the US quantum industry. The QED-C is only open to a few European member states and, thanks to the statement, Finland has been selected to be one of them, says Jan Goetz, chief executive and co-founder of quantum computer start-up IQM. Other benefits are expected to follow, with public funding for collaboration high on the wish list.

Finlands pitch in quantum is that it has a complete ecosystem. We have all the components in place, in a concentrated area, says Mikael Johansson, quantum strategist at CSC, Finlands IT Centre for Science. Being small has helped, with collaboration the norm across disciplines, and between academia and industry. Maybe that has been out of necessity, because we have limited resources to work with; but in the case of quantum technologies this is really an asset. We havent been siloed within the country, so we all work together and can see the broader picture.

IQM is a cornerstone of the ecosystem. Set up in 2018 by researchers from Aalto University and VTT, it builds quantum processors for research labs and supercomputing data centres. It now employs over 160 people, at four locations across Europe. Another is Bluefors, set up in 2008 to commercialise a cryogen-free ultra-low temperature system developed at Aaltos predecessor, Helsinki University of Technology. Achieving these low temperatures is essential for building quantum computers and other devices. The company now has over 250 employees, and an annual revenue of approximately 80 million.

Building on five qubits

IQM and VTT built Helmi, the five-qubit quantum computer inaugurated last November in Espoo. Five qubits is relatively modest compared to other projects: IBM last year turned on a machine boasting more than 100 qubits. But Majumdar says Helmi is just the beginning of Finlands quantum journey. Upgrades are expected to 20 qubits in 2023, and to 50 qubits in 2024.

You can run very simple algorithms, so it is for research and education rather than offering commercial benefits. But it is crucial for getting the feel of how a quantum computer works, says Juha Vartiainen, chief operating officer at IQM, and another of its four co-founders. The aim is to use this infrastructure to energise the ecosystem. Goetz draws an analogy with Britains high-performance computing ecosystem around Cambridge, where powerful computing infrastructure stimulated the start-up scene. And thats what we seeing, with start-ups being born here or relocating to Finland.

One example is QuantrolOx, a spin-off from the University of Oxford that has come to Espoo to build its qubit control software. Founded in 2021, the company raised 1.4 million in seed funding this February to further develop its business. The company can improve its product with the help of this quantum computer, says Vartiainen. On top of that, a deal announced in April between QuantrolOx and Indian quantum and artificial intelligence company QpiAI will result in the latter opening an office in Finland.

Meanwhile the Indian IT company Tech Mahindra is to set up a quantum centre of excellence in Helsinki, with the goal of creating 200 technology and business jobs over the next five years. This can be a kind of incubation centre for quantum algorithm development, says Majumdar, who was part of the trade delegation that sealed the deal. You can argue that you can do the computing in the cloud, using systems that are already available, but having access to a machine and actual hardware, where you can do even low-level software development, is a unique opportunity.

In addition to the hardware, Finlands assets for start-ups include plenty of talented engineers, and a strong venture capital community. You have events like Slush (a high-profile, annual tech exhibition in Helsinki), and a very good network of people who bring money to the table, says Goetz. There are also plenty of good ideas waiting to be exploited. Theres quite a build-up of intellectual property in the universities and VTT, so in terms of spinning out, there is a lot to build companies around, says Vartiainen.

Quantum meets supercomputing

Having an operational quantum computer will also help bring quantum and traditional high-performance computing together. Even though the quantum processor is small, its a real device, with real properties and real behaviour, that we can now integrate with the pan-European LUMI supercomputer, hosted in our data centre, says Johansson. Having it there means we can start doing things that were not possible before. We can start developing the software stack and algorithms, and we can get understanding of how it fits into the workflow for real end-user problems.

These end-users are the one gap in Finlands quantum ecosystem. We want them to get engaged as soon as possible in quantum activities, but there is a threshold that needs to be crossed, says Majumdar. Some of them think this is too far off, that they can wait for it to evolve. To this end VTT is setting up a foresight programme to help companies see beyond the threshold. We can help them identify what they can do in their specific industry, at each qubit capacity progression.

This search for end-users is one reason that IQM has expanded beyond Finland, opening offices in Munich, Bilbao and most recently Paris. In places like Munich, for example, you have a very high density of big industry players who have their quantum teams there, says Goetz. Its a different kind of ecosystem, not focused so much on the systems, but more on use cases. But its roots in Finland remain strong, with the European Investment Bank announcing last week that it is putting 35 million into the companys new processor fabrication facility in Espoo.

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The Ecosystem: Finland punches above its weight in quantum - Science Business

ST. PAUL, Minn., May 2, 2022 Responding to the companys steady year-over-year growth and new business opportunities, including over 20 new clients this past year alone, Hyperion Research, the leading industry analyst and market intelligence firm for high performance computing (HPC), AI, cloud, quantum, and associated emerging markets, is adding new analysts and announcing promotions among existing staff members.

New analyst:

Promotions:

Expanded roles:

Hyperion Research looks forward to continuing to help worldwide organizations make effective decisions and seize growth opportunities by providing superior data-based market research and analysis on HPC, AI, cloud, big data, quantum computing and emerging technologies.

About Hyperion Research

Hyperion Research is the premier industry analyst and market intelligence firm for high performance computing (HPC) and associated emerging markets. Hyperion Research analysts provide timely, in-depth mission-critical insight across a broad portfolio of advanced computing market segments, including High Performance Computing (HPC),Advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Data Analysis (HPDA),Quantum Computing, Cloud and Edge Computing.

Hyperion Research provides data-driven research, analysis and recommendations for technologies, applications, and markets to help organizations worldwide make effective decisions and seize growth opportunities. Research includes market sizing and forecasting, share tracking, segmentation, technology, and related trend analysis, and both user and vendor analysis for multi-user technical server technology used for HPC, AI, Cloud, Quantum and HPDA (high performance data analysis). The company provides thought leadership and practical guidance for users, vendors, and other members of the global HPC community by focusing on key market and technology trends across government, industry, commerce, and academia.

The industry analysts at Hyperion Research have been at the forefront of helping private and public organizations and government agencies make intelligent, fact-based decisions related to business impact and technology direction in the complex and competitive landscape of advanced computing and emerging technologies for more than 25 years.

Source: Hyperion Research

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Hyperion Research Expands Analyst Team - HPCwire

Building the Future We Deserve A Cyber Success Story

Consider a conventional computer. It uses a small (64-bit) processor architecture and is considered excellent for solving linear problems. Many past and present problems are linear, and 64-bit architectures have been sufficient to solve them (a 64-bit register can hold any of 264 over 18 quintillion [or 1.81019] different values). However, if you want to solve a much more complex problem such as those that occur in natural chemistry and physics, using a linear approach is not possible due to the massive numbers and variables that must be considered to reach a solution. Conventional computing and linear problem-solving approaches are quickly overwhelmed by this complexity.

Enter a quantum processor that harnesses bits that are atoms or subatomic particles. Because of the nature of quantum mechanics, those bits can represent anything (e.g., 0,1, or anything in between) and potentially exist anywhere in space. If you connect those bits with entanglement into a circuit, for example a 73 quantum bit (qubit) circuit, the word size is now 2 to the 73rd power (273). This works out to be a yottabit of data, which is equivalent to all the data stored in the world in the last year. Imagine a computer that can process all the data stored in the world in the last year in a single instruction.

This computational capability is amazing for operations such as molecular science, neural networks, and weather simulation. As another point of reference, you have about a trillion neurons in your brain. Think about interrogating the whole state of a complex neural network like your brain into one instruction. This is possible in the future using quantum computers. It is fascinating, and it will open us up to huge breakthroughs in technology, science and nature.

This fantastic computational power is a double-edged sword, however. The problem is that our current public encryption (think the entire internet) is based on a single transaction factoring a large prime number. Quantums large word sizes are great for factoring large prime numbers, rendering much of our current cryptographic capabilities useless. Also, the current cryptography on nearly all electronic devices, whether a watch, phone, computer, or satellite, is based on the same prime number factorization. So far, factoring a significant prime number on a conventional computer is still extremely difficult. But quantum computers pose a threat because they can do it quickly.

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Building the Future We Deserve A Cyber Success Story - Security Today

From MRI machines to particle accelerators and Maglev trains, superconductors have revolutionized modern technology and they have the potential to do so much more.

The main property of a superconducting material is that it can conduct electricity without resistance when cooled below a certain material-dependent critical temperature, explained Binghamton University Associate Professor of Physics Elena Roxana Margine.

This amazing quality, however, comes at a cost: The most commonly used niobium-based superconductors operate at extremely low temperatures around 10 degrees Kelvin, equivalent to 442 degrees Fahrenheit or 263 degrees Celsius.

For the past 50 years, scientists have been searching for superconductors that can work at higher critical temperatures ideally room temperature, although 100 degrees Kelvin (173 degrees Celsius or 279 degrees Fahrenheit) is acceptable for a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, the high-temperature superconductors already discovered are difficult to manufacture. Copper oxide-based superconductors are ceramic compounds, for example, which are brittle and difficult to fabricate into wires, while hydrogen-based superconductors can only be synthesized under extremely high pressure so high, in fact, that its similar to pressures found close to Earths core.

Margines work in computational physics could potentially lead to breakthroughs in this field. Last summer, she received three National Science Foundation (NSF) grants to aid that effort.

A $3.86 million grant from NSFs Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure will help develop a comprehensive software ecosystem to model and predict advanced functional properties of materials by using many-body electronic structure methods. Margine is one of several co-principal investigators (PIs) on the grant, which is led by Feliciano Giustino from the University of Texas at Austin; Binghamtons portion of the grant is $838,500.

The goal of this project is to expand and combine the complementary strengths of three software packages developed by the PIs of this grant and built-in compatibility layers for major density-functional theory codes, Margine explained. This cyberinfrastructure, in turn, will allow scientists to perform systematic and predictive calculations of properties that underpin the development of next-generation materials for energy, computing and quantum technologies.

Margine is the sole principal investigator for a $400,000 continuing grant from the NSFs Division of Materials Research that will allow her to implement new capabilities for modeling superconducting materials.

Another $226,947 grant from the Division of Materials Research will aid the search for superconducting materials that can operate at a higher critical temperature. The team, led by Margine and Associate Professor of Physics Alexey Kolmogorov, will explore promising combinations of boron, carbon and various metals, using advanced modeling methods and computational tools. Kolmogorov will use a combination of evolutionary algorithms and machine learning methods to identify synthesizable compounds, while Margine will investigate the most suitable candidate materials with potential for high-temperature superconductivity. Thats not as simple as opening a laptop, however.

Superconductivity is a complex process determined by the interaction between electrons and atomic vibrations in a material. Accurately modeling this interaction not only takes complex computer codes and calculations, but immense processing power.

In order to run calculations like this, you need supercomputers, Margine said.

For the past few years, Margine has used Expanse cluster at the San Diego Supercomputer Center; this year, she also was awarded resources to use the Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center.

The grants also support the training of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers in computational materials science and high-performance computing. These grants will also contribute to the development of a more diverse and inclusive STEM workforce by organizing annual schools for users of the codes, Margine said. One such training session will be held this June at the University of Texas at Austin.

Through computational modeling, researchers may be able to predict which materials would excel as superconductors, particularly those that can operate at higher critical temperatures. Understanding how they work at the atomic level could someday lead to innovations in energy storage, medicine, electronics, transport and even quantum computing.

What we are trying to do is develop methods with improved prediction capabilities that will pave the way for rational design of new superconductors, Margine said.

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Research could lead to the development of new superconductors | Binghamton News - Binghamton