JPMorgan Chase, Argonne National Laboratory and Quantinuum Show Theoretical Quantum Speedup with the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm
New York, New York, Broomfield, Colorado, Lemont, Illinois, May 29th, 2024 — In a new paper in Science Advances on May 29, researchers at JPMorgan Chase, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Quantinuum have demonstrated clear evidence of a quantum algorithmic speedup for the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA).
This algorithm has been studied extensively and has been implemented on many quantum computers. It has potential applications in fields such as logistics, telecommunications, financial modeling, and materials science.
“This work is a significant step towards reaching quantum advantage, laying the foundation for future impact in production,” says Marco Pistoia, Head of Global Technology Applied Research at JPMorgan Chase.
The team examined whether a quantum algorithm with low implementation costs could provide a quantum speedup over the best-known classical methods. QAOA was applied to the Low Autocorrelation Binary Sequences (LABS) problem, which has significance in understanding the behavior of physical systems, signal processing and cryptography. The study showed that if the algorithm was asked to tackle increasingly larger problems, the time it would take to solve them would grow at a slower rate than that of a classical solver.
To explore the quantum algorithm’s performance in an ideal noiseless setting, JPMorgan Chase and Argonne jointly developed a simulator to evaluate the algorithm’s performance at scale. It was built on the Polaris supercomputer, accessed through the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science user facility. The ALCF is supported by DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program.
“The large-scale quantum circuit simulations efficiently utilized the DOE petascale supercomputer Polaris located at the ALCF. These results show how high-performance computing can complement and advance the field of quantum information science,” says Yuri Alexeev, a computational scientist at Argonne.
To take the first step toward practical realization of the speedup in the algorithm, the researchers demonstrated a small-scale implementation on Quantinuum’s System Model H1 and H2 trapped-ion quantum computers. Using algorithm-specific error detection, the team reduced the impact of errors on algorithmic performance by up to 65%.
“Our long-standing partnership with JPMorgan Chase led to this meaningful and noteworthy three-way research experiment that also brought in Argonne National Lab. The results could not have been achieved without the unprecedented and world leading quality of our H-Series Quantum Computer, which provides a flexible device for executing error-correcting and error-detecting experiments on top of gate fidelities that are years ahead of other quantum computers,” says Ilyas Khan, Founder and Chief Product Officer of Quantinuum.
About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $4.1 trillion in assets and $337 billion in stockholders’ equity as of March 31, 2024. With over 63,000 technologists globally and an annual tech spend of $17 billion, JPMorgan Chase is dedicated to improving the design, analytics, development, coding, testing and application programming that goes into creating high quality software and new products. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S., and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Visit http://www.jpmorganchase.com/tech for more information.
About Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum, the world’s largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With almost 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.
Quantinuum recently closed an equity fundraise anchored by JPMorgan Chase with additional participation from Mitsui & CO., Amgen and Honeywell, which remains the company’s majority shareholder, bringing the total capital raised by Quantinuum since inception to approximately $625 million.
The Honeywell trademark is used under license from Honeywell International Inc. Honeywell makes no representations or warranties with respect to this service.
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum, the world’s largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.
Broomfield, Colorado, November 19th, 2024 – Quantinuum, the world’s largest and leading integrated quantum computing company, has been recognized by Fast Company as a winner in the 2024 Next Big Things in Tech Awards in the Computing, Chips, and Foundational Technology category. In its fourth year, the list honors technology breakthroughs that promise to shape the future of our society. This prestigious accolade underscores Quantinuum’s advancements with its System Model H2 quantum processor, the latest in a series of groundbreaking announcements.
Quantinuum’s H2 Quantum Processor: A Breakthrough in Quantum Computing
Launched in 2023 and upgraded in 2024, the H2 quantum processor represents a major advancement in quantum computing. As the most benchmarked system with the highest quantum volume in the industry, H2 is a testament to Quantinuum’s path in leading the world to universal, fully fault tolerant quantum computing future.
"The System Model H2 represents a significant leap in computing, demonstrating capabilities that can no longer be fully simulated by classical computers." said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President & CEO of Quantinuum. "Its unique design has led to significant achievements, including the creation of 12 reliable logical qubits and a 100-fold enhancement in a key quantum computing benchmark, Random Circuit Sampling (RCS). These results have made our systems integral to hybrid quantum computing workflows, combining our high performing quantum systems with leading AI and HPC solutions.”
These innovations have the potential to revolutionize fields like chemistry, drug discovery, and financial forecasting, demonstrating the far-reaching implications of Quantinuum's work.
Roadmap to Universal, Fully Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing
Quantinuum recently unveiled its accelerated roadmap to achieve universal fault-tolerant quantum computing in 2029. This integrated path not only emphasizes hardware advancements but also focuses on critical software capabilities that are essential for delivering full-stack quantum computing and hybrid quantum computing solutions.
Quantinuum’s next system, Helios, will launch in 2025 with 96 qubits and will help to unlock scientific advances that will surpass classical computing results.
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum, the world’s largest integrated quantum computing company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.
- First successful delivery of quantum tokens using commercial QKD hardware, demonstrating fast transaction verification at the point of exchange - a crucial step toward quantum-enhanced financial security and a major advance for QKD.
- Quantum tokens are designed to provide unforgeability, privacy, and fast settlement, in a single financial instrument. No previous technology can deliver these three combined benefits.
- In the world’s first implementation using off-the-shelf hardware, quantum tokens were transmitted across 10km of fibre in Tokyo, using commercial quantum key distribution (QKD) devices provided by NEC*.
- This is a pivotal step towards the deployment of ultra-high-security quantum tokens in use cases such as tokenized asset security and high-speed trading.
Tokyo, Japan and Broomfield, Colorado - November 18th, 2024 – In a long anticipated trial, Quantinuum ("Quantinuum", Head Office: Broomfield, Colorado, U.S.A., CEO: Rajeeb Hazra), together with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) and NEC ("NEC", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Takayuki Morita) today announced the successful delivery of quantum tokens across a 10km fibre-optic network in Japan. This is the first time such a delivery has been accomplished.
Quantum tokens are a new financial instrument that take advantage of the properties of quantum physics to meet the robust demands of asset trading without the communication overheads required by traditional financial systems. Quantum tokens are transmitted across fibre-optic quantum key distribution (QKD) networks, which are rapidly expanding around the globe. Today's announcement with Mitsui demonstrates growing industry recognition of quantum tokens' potential in financial services.
Ilyas Khan, Founder and Chief Product Officer at Quantinuum, said: “The original motivation for quantum communications was the exchange of money, as envisaged by Stephen Wiesner. Today, we have demonstrated real-world security enhancements for financial systems using off-the-shelf quantum communications hardware. This opens the door to a new era in quantum-enhanced security with wide applicability, providing commercial organisations with something concrete to utilise.”
Koji Naniwada, Deputy General Manager, Quantum Innovation Dept. at Mitsui, said: “Quantum tokens will increase the security of digital assets, while improving transaction performance and maintaining privacy. These topics are critical for our customers and partners in the financial sector and this demonstration is a valuable outcome of our partnership with Quantinuum.”
Naoki Ishida, Director with the Trading and Service Solution Department at NEC, said: “We are the first to provide a platform for realizing a quantum token system using NEC’s quantum key distribution (QKD) devices. Based on the results of this trial between Mitsui & Co. and Quantinuum, we will continue to work towards the social implementation of quantum cryptography technology.”
Quantum tokens are designed to use quantum physics to prevent forgery, while ensuring transactions can be settled near-instantly, whereas traditional payments systems rely on double-entry bookkeeping to prevent double-spending of funds. This adds time, overhead and risk to every transaction, as digital systems are consulted to confirm funds are available and to settle transactions.
Quantum tokens instead rely on the no-cloning theorem of quantum physics to prevent forgeries and double-spending. Only the intended recipient will receive the correct token data, which can only be spent at one location in the future. This enables near-instant transaction settlement by removing the need to check multiple systems or wait for network confirmations.
As demonstrated in Quantinuum’s recent work with HSBC, securing digital assets in the quantum-age is growing in urgency. The financial sector is increasingly looking to quantum technology to solve these complex problems with the power of nature.
Learn more about this new frontier of financial security, powered by quantum, in our whitepaper.
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Note:
(*) The equipment provided by NEC was partially supported by results from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ (MIC) “Research and development for construction of a global quantum cryptography network”(JPJ008957) under “R&D of ICT Priority Technology Project” (JPMI00316) and Japan’s Cabinet Office’s "Photonics and Quantum Technology for Society 5.0" project under the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP).
About Mitsui
Mitsui & Co. is a global trading and investment company with a presence in more than 60 countries and a diverse business portfolio covering a wide range of industries.
The company identifies, develops, and grows its businesses in partnership with a global network of trusted partners including world leading companies, combining its geographic and cross-industry strengths to create long-term sustainable value for its stakeholders.
Mitsui has set three key strategic initiatives for its current Medium-term Management Plan: supporting industries to grow and evolve with stable supplies of resources and materials, and providing infrastructure; promoting a global transition to low-carbon and renewable energy; and empowering people to lead healthy lives through the delivery of quality healthcare and access to good nutrition.
Visit https://www.mitsui.com/jp/en/index.html for more information.
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum, the world’s largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.