Israel may change the outcome of the war, or at least future wars, with the power of quantum computing. The key word is ‘Quantum Supremacy‘ and it means who built the very first large quantum computer holds the ultimate power in hand. It may even decide future wars. However, it will not supersede the boots on the ground. No ‘Quantum Supremacy’ will ever do that, but it will give an edge. But step by step.
There are many Israeli companies engaged in the ‘Quantum industry’. One player is ‘Quantum Source’ which managed to fund an additional $50M in venture capital. ‘Quantum Source’ is based in Nes Ziona (Israel).
“Quantum Source is developing, technology for powerful, cost-effective, practical photonic quantum computers. Series A investment round led by Eclipse, with participation from Standard Investments, Level VC, Canon Equity, as well as existing investors Pitango First, Grove Ventures, 10D, and Dell Technologies Capital.
This brings the company’s total funding raised to over $77M. The capital will be used to enhance engineering capabilities and accelerate the commercialization of quantum solutions.
Quantum computing is a fundamental paradigm shift in computing, with the potential to dramatically accelerate technological advancements in drug design, material development, cybersecurity, and more. Large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers, with millions of qubits, are critical to unlocking the potential of quantum computing but have yet to reach commercial viability.
Photonic quantum computing technology offers the best route to commercialization, however, the biggest obstacle has been the massive inefficiency in creating entangled photonic states, a challenge that Quantum Source addresses.” (quote edited/selected/curated by Naftali Hirschl based on the press release of Quantum Source).
Big Background
Israel is already in the Top 10 Club of Quantum Supremacy as reported on this website. The State of Israel selected 2022 a company that will build the National Quantum Computing Center. A company that is also well known to readers from ‘VonNaftali’: Quantum Machines.
The press release gives from Quantum Machines details: “Quantum Machines, the provider of breakthrough quantum control solutions that accelerate the development and implementation of quantum computers, announced today that it has been selected by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) to lead the establishment of the Israel Quantum Computing Center.
The center is part of the Israel National Quantum Initiative (INQI) and will host Israel’s first fully functioning quantum computer that is available to the commercial and research communities. Quantum Machines will lead the establishment of the center together with a consortium of top Israeli and international companies at the forefront of quantum computing globally.
Quantum computers capable of general-purpose quantum computations will revolutionize a broad range of industries. Governments around the world view the development of domestic quantum capabilities as a matter of strategic national interest.
China reportedly invested $10B in its national quantum initiative and the US announced a $1.2B national initiative in 2018. The Israel National Quantum Initiative was launched in 2018, and in February, it was announced that the 1.25B NIS initiative would fund the development of Israel’s first quantum computer.”
Consortium for Quantum Supremacy…and Philosophy?
A consortium should bring Israel in the race of Quantum Supremacy into the lead. The consortium is led by Quantum Machines and is a ‘who is who’ of Israel’s cutting-edge technology companies. The Consortium partners include:
- Elbit Systems is a strategic partner in this project and will be part of the center’s advisory board. Elbit will lead the design of quantum applications for the government sector and assign dedicated teams to advance their development.
- QuantWare will provide its superconducting Quantum Processing Units (QPUs)
- ORCA Computing will provide its scalable quantum photonics computing system
- ColdQuanta will provide its cold atoms-based quantum computing system
- ParTec will provide a High-Performance Computing (HPC) platform and provide services for the integration of HPC and quantum computing
- Classiq and Super.tech will provide their state-of-the-art software application layer capabilities, including quantum software development tools and benchmarking software for all of the center’s platforms.
For all the enthusiasm, justified optimism, and professionalism on board, the consortium does not seem complete without the philosophy. You need the tenth man committed to thinking outside the box and thinking the impossible because that’s what it is all about to succeed finally: The philosopher
Two years later we do not see decisive progress. Still, Israel has not reached Quantum Supremacy which will be a game changer.
GOLEM
Roee Ozeri of the ‘Weizmann Institute of Science‘ has succeeded in leading Israel into the age of quantum computing.
Globally, there are now 30 quantum computers, one of which is located in Israel. Connoisseurs may not be surprised that the ‘Weizmann Institute of Science‘ under Prof. Dr. Roee Ozeri has finally succeeded in realizing an Israeli quantum computer.
Ozeri is considered the doyen of quantum computing in Israel, looking back on 15 years of intensive research and conducting research under Nobel Laureate David J. Wineland.
David J. Wineland received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics “…for pioneering experimental methods that enable the measurement and manipulation of single quantum systems,” according to the Nobel Prize Committee’s citation.
More Quantum-Power and more GOLEM
And it won’t stop with the one quantum computer. A second, much more powerful quantum computer is nearing completion: it will go by the name ‘WeinzQC‘.
Norbert Wiener foreshadowed this insight in his book ‘God and Golem, Inc.’ (1963) where he writes and cautions: “There are at least three points in cybernetics that seem relevant to religious questions. One concerns machines that learn, one concerns machines that reproduce themselves, and one concerns machine-human coordination.”
A homage to one of the first computers in the world: the ‘WeizAC‘ (Weizmann Automatic Calculator), which performed its first calculations in 1955 with a 4kB memory. ‘WeizAC‘ was in operation until 1963 and was eventually superseded by the large-scale computing system ‘GOLEM‘. The philosophical and Talmudic background of the very first large-scale computer read ‘Golem and Frankenstein‘.
More Israel-Power: Top 30 – Top 10 – Top 3
The first Israeli quantum computer is not only among the Top 30 but among the Top 10 quantum computers because its processor architecture is based on a so-called ‘ion trap‘.
The Weizmann Institute’s online magazine – ‘Weizmann Wonder Wander‘ – details why quantum computing is crucial, so crucial in fact that it will determine the weal and woe of entire nations.
The establishment of quantum computing is comparable to the invention of the steam engine, the computer or even writing. Not being there is not an option.
It means, metaphorically speaking, remaining in the Stone Age while others enter the Industrial Age. “Quantum computers promise to reach computational complexity that is unthinkable using even the most powerful classical computers. This level of ability is known as the “quantum advantage.” It should bring about a slew of applications, from designing unbreakable codes and predicting market fluctuations to accelerating the development of new drugs, materials and artificial intelligence systems. That’s because in contrast to today’s computers, which are limited by the boundaries of classical physics, quantum computers obey an entirely different set of laws – those of quantum mechanics, which rule the microscopic world. In our familiar world, humans, cats or even bits, the basic units of information in classical computing, can only be in one place at a time. In contrast, quantum bits, known as qubits, can be simultaneously present in more than one position or state, which enables them to conduct multiple calculations in parallel, opening the door to vast computing power.“
Israel among Top 3
The Weizmann computer is a five-qubit machine, which is about the same level as the IBM version reached when the company began offering quantum computing as a cloud service.
The WeizQC, currently being built in Ozeri’s lab, is expected to operate at 64 qubits. It is said to demonstrate the quantum advantage previously achieved only by computers built in two labs: at ‘Google‘ and at the ‘University of Science and Technology of China‘. Once again, EU-Europe sees no land. EU-Europe fails as usual because of its political bureaucracy.
Be it as it may, Israel’s future will gain a solid foundation through the attainment of ‘quantum power’ so that Israel will be able to exist for another 3,500 years with HIS help.
The quantum computer will be the material basis for actual artificial intelligence. Without quantum computers no actual artificial intelligence. The other basis will be philosophy. Here, unfortunately, everything is still in its infancy and is at the beginning. But that is another topic.
pic AI generated.