In the latest Quantum Buzzship, Archer Materials and Quantum Computing Inc. are leading the charge with groundbreaking advancements in quantum chips and medical diagnostics. In this article, explore their latest innovations in this dynamic field!
Archer
Due to their listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, an emerging player albeit lesser known to U.S. markets is Archer Materials Limited (ASX | AXE [Aus.] / ARRXF | OTC[US]). An example headline indicative of their recent developments is ‘Archer and EPFL Co-Develop a Single Chip Integrated Pulsed Electron Spin Resonance Microsystem.’ This news relates to furthering technology geared at controlling particle spins at the appropriate scale to be used with their emerging quantum processing chip technology.
While currently in R&D stages of development within their segmentation related to quantum computing, they are also pursuing chips for medical diagnostic applications. Archer is quietly positioning itself for high impact as their product options approach greater viability.
Early tests have indicated viability of their 1-2-Q-C (12QC) chip for quantum coherence at room temperature. With the enabling engine of computation rooted in readily available carbon material, it has highly scalable potential provided its development remains on track.
Archer has established strategic foundry partnerships across Europe and other global locations, including the United States. With their readout capabilities steadily improving as anticipated, they are ready to launch their offerings. The recent progress highlighted in the headline marks a significant step forward. Archer is particularly enthusiastic about their innovative medical chip concept, which exhibits promising disease readout capabilities for multiple diseases concurrently. As this product evolves, it is likely to garner increased attention and interest.
The strength of an emerging quantum computing pioneer like Archer is two-fold.
First, they have focused on refining core enabling capabilities for the industry, addressing the most pertinent challenges known within the sector. Archer is working to produce a highly scalable and relatively affordable quantum enabled chip capable of operation at or near room temperature atmospheric conditions. One key advantage this could yield above near industry competitors in quantum chip production is mass production and distribution from onset of a mature product design. The fabless approach relies on key partnerships and agreements from foundaries across the world.
They are well poised with their intangibles. They have been granted quantum chip prototype patents under the world’s most tech-strong nations. The underlying concept points to a near term wellspring of computing advancement milestones. The kind of breakthroughs in quantum chip manufacturing Archer and others are tracking to achieve are poised to greatly enable the engines of AI computational power.
By structuring their business in this way, they have wisely structured themselves for risk management purposes. All the hype in quantum buzzship allows for rampant market manipulations.
Quantum Buzzship promises much but presently does not produce much revenue, presenting a great deal of risk to potential investors. Archer, instead of embracing a race toward resource over-extension, has taken an approach of the aforementioned budding partnerships toward their key capabilities. Through a fabless approach, they have focused their energy and resources toward crafting a strategy and setting the stage for rapid product development and efficient distribution.
They are also one of the few quantum businesses looking to sell chip-based products in the imminent future. Others with direct and ongoing ambient condition ready and scalable quantum chip development efforts within the public spotlight include Photonic, Quantum Computing Incorporated (QCI) to name a couple. All said, a surprising underdog in the mix is the aforementioned QCI.
Quantum Computing Inc.
Presently behind the revenue curve of longer-standing quantum industry product-based companies such as D-Wave and Rigetti, Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) was actually one of the first pure quantum computing companies to go public, even before D-Wave or Rigetti. QCI’s photon-enabled chip concept is a hybrid approach that allows for quantum photonic qubit formations on a microchip. They are poised to become one of the first qubit processing capable quantum computing chip developers in the United States. With their own foundry facility development in progress in Tempe, AZ, and with a product development timeline that is perhaps less than a couple of years to production, they could emerge as a pioneering change-agent toward the computing industry’s adoption of quantum technologies.
It is important to note that each of these companies might, with some validity, argue for or against whether they are in competition with each other or certain others in the industry. That said, since those currently vying for industry influence share similar interests in seeking the attention of those capable of funding or interested in promoting their solutions, we’ll assume at this stage that they each share a semblance of mutual competition for industry attention, potential investors, and market trends.
Archer is an Australian-based company that is positioning itself for quite a widespread market reach from onset. The Canadian-based Photonic, mentioned earlier, dials in on an emerging hyperspace of quantum possibilities in the photonic sphere of quantum science.
In the current market scene, Archer’s path to market entry not only seems plausible given the focus of other predominant efforts in the industry and the publicly known institutional interests focused on players such as D-Wave, IONQ, Rigetti versus Photonic, Archer, or even Quantum Computing Inc. However, there is one key difference between the former three and the latter three mentioned here. This difference is the comparative advantage their core hardware has in manufacturing and distribution efficiency.
The actual success of roll-out will likely determine success or failure. Provided their marketing strategy improves, companies like QCI will supply the transitional products this industry needs for various computing hardware end uses. In our opinion, it is the solutions that are more naturally fashioned for mass production, product stability, and product sustainability that will emerge intermediately triumphant in product viability. It is also our opinion that the publicly known solutions rooted in photonics, carbon material science, and photonic-enabled silicone chip forms are presently on the best, most conceivable track to real product viability and industry impacts.
Technologies such as the silicone spin qubit chips or the photonic-based QCI chips or the carbon-enabled Archer prototype will reveal a product development curve that perhaps eventually overtakes the industry solutions that are more rooted in cryogenically imprisoned atoms that are manipulated by electromagnetic radiative signals.
Other approaches also exist that are pursued by other players, perhaps more conscientiously backed by institutional investors at present time. From an academic standpoint, you have academia’s influence across the gamut of start-up companies, examples of which include Rigetti and IONQ.
Other companies are apparently starting from a significantly broader approach and have either plodded along or slowly begun to narrow down their next wave of revenue streams. Companies such as D-Wave and Quantum Computing Inc. began their companies from different perspectives but now find themselves oddly positioned in closer alignment in terms of potential competition. That said, their technological paths may be diametrically opposed in terms of clear paths to adequately scalable systems.
Quantum computing companies seem bound for a direct impact on the sphere of AI, and they have AI partnerships in view. If not in form only, the processing power required by AI is something that quantum computing, in form, has another large role to play since the system architecture would have the capability of functioning with significantly improved energy efficiency. Greater computing power for comparatively less energy from chips.
A few hot points to note in budding photonic chip tech include topics such as:
- Silicon chips
- Lithium niobate silicon substrate
- Wave guides, beamsplitter laser on a chip
Chip manufacturing is a large focus for companies such as QCI, which are trying to grasp a full-stack computing approach to their offerings in a rather prolific way. Over the past couple of years, we have begun to see more substantial formations for financial partnerships between D-Wave, Photonic, and others with big-name institutional investors.
D-Wave has been in the business of quantum annealing for some time now and they have been sharpening their software solutions in terms of their own Ocean platform. Quantum Computing Inc., however, started from a pure software potential and acquired their full-stack computing capability from the acquisition of a photonic quantum tech partner. D-Wave as a company is really about the first to have offered products positioned in quantum computing tech geared toward solving industry problems. By now, other players such as QCI and IONQ are also doing so. The core of their tech has some similarity at fundamental levels to other near-term competitors such as Rigetti (and others), however, they do have a strong software side to their venture as well.
Where is the institutional money? Is the institutional money well-placed?
These are good questions.
Certain players we’ve been following that we’ve seen significant reports of either renowned institutional backing, partial ownership, or support include Quantinuum, Photonic, and IONQ.
Notably, the interest in Microsoft for both Photonic and IONQ is something to point out and may have some relevance. The focused interest in these areas likely involves some thought regarding the potential scalability of the technology that either of these companies is pursuing. The extent to which institutional preferences may shift in a greater way to other players such as QCI and Archer remains to be seen.
The publicly shared freelance opinions and interests offered by individuals, partners or affiliates through industry knowledge collaborative efforts with other entities such as the Quantum Cowboys in no way represent the official views or financial interests of any business entity.
