By Mackenzie Tatananni
Quantinuum said it had achieved a milestone for the quantum computing sector after its system completed a number-generation task outside the reach of traditional computers, just weeks after D-Wave Quantum made similar claims of quantum supremacy.
Quantinuum, JPMorgan Chase, and other collaborators including two federally-backed research labs said Wednesday that they had demonstrated a potential real-world application of a quantum computer.
In a paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers claimed they were the first to prove mathematically that they produced "genuine randomness." They noted that the generation of random numbers could be used in cryptography and cracking complex mathematical problems.
To achieve so-called "certified randomness," cybersecurity experts at JPMorgan Chase wrote an algorithm for a quantum machine to generate random numbers, which they then ran on a Quantinuum computer.
The researchers used the 56-qubit Quantinuum System Model H2, which was found in an earlier study to have one of the most powerful quantum processing units on the market.
The team also used classical supercomputers to test whether the output was truly random, including a familiar one: Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Frontier, the same machine used in D-Wave's study earlier this month.
The researchers relied on an approach called random circuit sampling to perform a certified-randomness-expansion protocol, which outputs more randomness than was input -- something unachievable by classical computers.
The latest development means Quantinuum can add its name to the list of companies that claim to have demonstrated quantum supremacy by achieving feats no traditional computers could complete in a realistic amount of time.
In an interview with Barron's last week, Quantinuum CEO Rajeeb Hazra stressed the company's approach was to be "very open" and "disclose everything so we can get peer-reviewed."
"There's been a lot of noise in the last six months" with regard to quantum computing, Hazra said, including the debate around the timeline for wide-scale, commercial-grade quantum deployment. "But this is the year where it's put up the facts or get out. The haves and the have nots, in terms of what it takes to be successful in this business, will separate," he continued.
D-Wave sent shockwaves through the industry earlier this month after its next-generation Advantage2 computer took only 20 minutes to complete a materials simulation task that would have taken HPE's Frontier nearly 1 million years.
Some scientists took issue with D-Wave's claims, and the resulting debacle served as a reminder that no research is spotless. This includes Quantinuum's most recent accomplishment.
Scott Aaronson, the computer scientist who first proposed the certified randomness protocol in 2018, identified several "caveats" in a blog post. Quantinuum's achievement, "though impressive from the standpoint of demonstrating quantum supremacy with trapped ions, is not yet good enough for high-stakes cryptographic applications," wrote Anderson, who serves as Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science and director of the Quantum Information Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Aaronson, also a collaborator on the paper, argued that "one only has 'practical security,' or security against a class of simplified yet realistic attackers," for the time being.
The study authors were upfront about the limitations, stating in the paper that the results "demonstrate a step towards the practical applicability of present-day quantum computers" but are not commercially applicable just yet.
These nuances are often lost on investors. Shares of quantum pure-plays slid following Nvidia GTC's Quantum Day, when details about timelines for wide-scale deployment failed to materialize during the conference.
Speaking to Barron's on Thursday, Aaronson urged investors to remember that quantum computing is still in development and is heavily rooted in the principles of scientific discovery.
The technology offers increases in speed over classical computing when it comes to breaking certain types of encryption and to modeling quantum physics and chemistry. Those advances might be where the advantages end -- for now.
"For other areas, like optimization and machine learning and finance, the quantum speedups currently seem to be much more modest, despite large efforts to obfuscate that point," Aaronson said.
He emphasized that the generation of certified random bits is a potential application "that wasn't even on anyone's radar a decade ago."
"It underscores that basic research in quantum algorithms and complexity continues, and that the highest-impact applications of quantum computers might be stuff that we're not even talking about yet," Aaronson said.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2025 15:12 ET (19:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments