Yesterday, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce announced approximately $504 million in subsidy funds for 12 technology centers across the United States. Among these,  Elevate Quantum Tech Hub, led by Elevate Quantum in Colorado, is expected to receive $41 million in funding. This funding will support its three initiatives, including constructing open-access quantum labs and fabs, providing inclusive workforce development programming, and coordinating the consortium’s overall strategy, stakeholder and investor engagement, and executive management.

BeQCI, the consortium charged with deploying the first-ever open quantum communication infrastructure in Belgium, has reached an important milestone in its Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) mission. Belnet, the Belgian National Research Network, has successfully set up the required infrastructure and realized the first QKD links together with Imec and UGent. It is understood that BeQCI, funded by the EU and the Belgian Science Policy Office, serves as the branch of the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) program in Belgium.

SandboxAQ launched yesterday the world’s first dual-use real-time magnetic navigation system powered by AI and quantum technology (AQ), which can provide real-time location information during uncontrolled operational flights. AQNav is a dual-use military and civilian magnetic navigation system for Assured Positioning Navigation and Timing (APNT), offering an unjammable, all-weather, and terrain-agnostic APNT solution.

Pasqal, a developer of neutral-atom quantum computers, announced yesterday that the company has successfully trapped more than 1,110 atoms in its quantum computing device with 2,080 trapping sites. This breakthrough marks a crucial step in Pasqal’s progress towards quantum advantage and scalable quantum processors. In Pasqal’s quantum computing architecture, the atoms are confined and manipulated using electromagnetic fields. The internal energy states of these atoms serve as the quantum states of the qubits.

IBM will deploy Korea's first IBM commercial quantum computer at Yonsei University’s Songdo campus in Incheon in the latter half of this year. Yesterday, The full-scale model of the IBM Quantum System One was displayed at the Quantum Korea 2024 event held in Goyang, South Korea. It is understood that Yonsei University and IBM announced their collaboration to build the "Yonsei-IBM Quantum Computing Center" in July last year, making South Korea the fifth country to deploy IBM's superconducting quantum computer locally.

Intel recently introduced a millikelvin-level low-temperature quantum control chip named "Pando Tree." Intel claims it is the industry's first demonstration of a low-temperature control electronic device capable of controlling spin qubits within a dilution refrigerator. Utilizing Pando Tree's demultiplexing capabilities, Intel needs only about 20 cables to control one million qubits. This innovation represents a significant step forward in addressing the wiring bottleneck that limits the scaling of quantum computing.

IQM Quantum Computers (IQM), announced yesterday the opening of its first quantum data centre in Munich, Germany, to support industry applications, with plans to place up to 12 quantum computers in the data centre. At present, the data centre is equipped with two of IQM’s quantum computers, the facility, housed in the company’s Munich premises.

Yesterday, the quantum startup Qblox announced the successful completion of a Series A funding round of $26 million, led by Quantonation and Invest-NL Deep Tech fund, with additional participation from QDNL participations and the European Innovation Council (EIC). Qblox said that its control stack solutions are currently utilised by over one hundred customers globally, and this Series A funding will further fuel Qblox's efforts in research and development, allowing for accelerated product development and enhanced market positioning.

PQShield, a cybersecurity company specializing in post-quantum cryptography (PQC), has raised $37 million in Series B funding led by Addition. PQShield will use the funding to expand its commercial operations as it continues to meet growing global demand for its quantum-ready cryptographic solutions for hardware, software, and communications.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (USF) yesterday announced a $20 million grant to CU Boulder to launch a facility known as the National Quantum Nanofab (NQN).  Researchers and quantum experts from Colorado will be able to utilize this facility to design and build incredibly small devices, which will help translate discoveries in the quantum world into technologies that have a greater impact on society.

The neutral atom quantum computer manufacturer Pasqal announced yesterday that it has delivered a quantum processing unit (QPU) with over 100 qubits to GENCI (Grand Équipement National de Calcul Intensif) and CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission). It is the first QPU delivered by Pasqal to a third party, and the QPU will be integrated with GENCI’s supercomputer, Joliot-Curie, which is hosted and operated by CEA at TGCC.

Led by IQM Quantum Computers, the Q-Exa consortium has collaborated with the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) to integrate a 20-qubit quantum computer into Germany's SuperMUC-NG supercomputer. The Q-Exa project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with an investment of over 40 million euros, aims to connect quantum processing units (QPU) based on superconducting circuits to a supercomputer and to develop interfaces and control tools for this purpose. 

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has initiated a new tender process to seek R&D partners to scale up the country’s most powerful quantum computer to 300 qubits. In addition to increasing the qubit count, VTT will examine, together with the selected partner, whether it is possible to optimize the quantum computer to solve specific types of mathematical problems. VTT has previously developed 5-qubit and 20-qubit quantum computers with current partners, and a third system featuring 50 qubits is set to launch in the second half of 2024.

The French quantum computing startup C12 has completed a second round of funding of €18 million (~USD 19.35 million), which will be used to accelerate the development of its carbon nanotube-based quantum computer. It is understood that the company completed a seed round of funding of USD 10 million in 2021, and this new investment brings its total raised funds to nearly USD 30 million.

Fujitsu announced yesterday that it has received an order for a gate-based superconducting quantum computer from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) on May 15, 2024. This quantum computer is scheduled to go online in early 2025 and to be operated by the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI technology (G-QuAT) of AIST. It is reported that this is the first time that a Japanese vendor has received an order for a commercial quantum computer system.

Recently, a research team composed of several Japanese universities and research institutions discovered a new one-dimensional topological insulator. By preparing and observing a single helical chain composed of tellurium (Te) atoms, the team proved that the electric charges did indeed appear at the endpoints of the chains, concluding that the Te single helical chain is a one-dimensional topological insulator material. Topological insulators are electrically insulating inside, with electrons not easily moving; however, their surfaces are electrically conductive, allowing electrons to move along the surface. One-dimensional topological insulators are crucial to quantum physics because the charges at their endpoints can be used to constitute qubits.

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan officially announced yesterday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for research cooperation with IBM on May 10th to strengthen collaboration for the industrialization of quantum technology. AIST said that to stimulate the quantum hardware and component industry, it will work with IBM to promote the development of next-generation quantum computers and their supply chain.

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan recently announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Keysight Technologies to jointly carry out quantum research and drive the industrialization of quantum technology. Under the terms of the agreement, AIST will integrate and link the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT)’s evaluation testbeds, device manufacturing capabilities, and computing infrastructure with Keysight’s quantum control and 5G/6G evaluation technologies, and the companies will partner to explore quantum control technologies, low-temperature electronics device technology, and modeling and simulation.

According to media reports, the Queensland government has announced a new budget that will invest AUD 89.7 million in the Queensland Quantum Academy and the Queensland Quantum and Advanced Technologies Strategy over the next five years. The Queensland Quantum Strategy was announced in early October last year when the state pledged to invest AUD 76 million over four years. The new budget has allocated an additional AUD 7.7 million to support the quantum strategy, bringing the total investment to AUD 83.7 million over five years. In addition, the budget also includes a separate allocation of AUD 6 million over five years to support the development of the Queensland Quantum Academy.

Quantum computing developer Diraq announced yesterday that IMEC has successfully manufactured their silicon spin qubits on 300mm silicon wafers using standard CMOS materials and processes, achieving 99.9% fidelity in single qubit control. This milestone enables Diraq to achieve the precision necessary for producing robust error-corrected quantum computers in existing silicon foundries. It is reported that Diraq-designed quantum chips will be manufactured this year by GlobalFoundries using their 22FDX technology.