Today, two French quantum computing companies, Pasqal and Welinq, announced a partnership set to bring new standards to the quantum computing industry.
Pasqal builds quantum processors from ordered neutral atoms in 2D and 3D arrays to give its customers a practical quantum advantage and address real-world problems. It was founded in 2019 out of the Institut d'Optique by Georges-Olivier Reymond, Christophe Jurczak, Professor Dr Alain Aspect—Nobel Prize Laureate Physics, 2022, Dr Antoine Browaeys, and Dr Thierry Lahaye. To date, Pasqal has secured more than €140 million in financing.
Welinq develops and commercialises quantum links based on laser-cooled neutral atom quantum memories to interconnect quantum computers, drastically increasing their computational power and ensuring their deployment in clusters on customer premises.
The company spun out from Sorbonne Université, CNRS and PSL-University and was founded in 2022 by Tom Darras, Prof Julien Laurat, Dr Eleni Diamanti and Jean Lautier-Gaud.
The next-generation Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) are expected to execute quantum algorithms relying on a large number of qubits while applying error correction, which would necessitate an even more significant number.
Welinq harnesses a unique solution to interconnect multiple QPUs, significantly enhancing computational power. This facilitates scaling up the number of qubits and optimised QPU deployment and establishes the foundation for expansive quantum networks. Welinq's world-leading quantum memories are central to this breakthrough, which are essential in creating these pivotal quantum links.
The two companies aim to push the boundaries of quantum processing unit (QPU) interconnectivity. Welinq brings their full-stack, turnkey quantum links to the partnership and the world's most efficient quantum memories based on cold neutral atoms, promising to provide the scalability necessary for achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Pasqal offers expertise in quantum computing with neutral atoms, featuring full-stack capabilities from hardware design and development to software solutions.
An ambitious neural roadmap
By the end of 2024, Welinq targets an industrial prototype of their neutral atom quantum memory with cutting-edge efficiency, storage time, and fidelity. Pasqal aims for a breakthrough in 2024 with 1000-qubit QPUs. T
he roadmap peaks in the 2026-2027 horizon with projected 10,000-qubit QPUs and high-fidelity two-qubit gates.
By 2030, they aim to foster a thriving quantum computing ecosystem, driving significant scientific and commercial advancements.
Multiple Pasqal neutral atom quantum processors will be interconnected for the first time, significantly boosting computing power. This represents a substantial step toward developing a complete, fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture that supports distributed computing.
Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO and co-founder Pasqal commented:
"The partnership between Pasqal and Welinq is a strategic step towards practical quantum computing.
Our collaboration is centred on creating tangible solutions by integrating Pasqal's precision in quantum processing with Welinq's innovative networking and quantum memory systems.
This is quantum advancement with real-world application in mind, striving to solve complex problems with greater efficiency and reliability."
According to Tom Darras, CEO & Co-founder of Welinq:
"I am delighted to see that Welinq's unique vision for the scale-up of quantum computing is in alignment with quantum computing leaders like Pasqal,
This is a landmark for boosting the global quantum community towards achieving practical quantum computing in networked quantum computer architectures."
Lead image: Dynamic Wang.
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