Amazon prepares the ground for its own quantum computer
Amazon.com Inc. is laying the foundations for a quantum computer, deepening its efforts to harness technology that can process large amounts of data in seconds that take even hours or days to process even the most powerful supercomputers.
Amazon has hired for a team of Quantum hardware within its Amazon web service center for quantum computing, according to internal job postings and information on LinkedIn. Marc Runyan, former engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lists his title on the professional social network as a senior quantum researcher at Amazon and describes his role as “helping to design and build a quantum computer for Amazon Web Services.”
A spokesperson for Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing group, declined to comment. Runyan did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn post.
Proponents of quantum computing say the technology will exponentially improve the processing speed and power of computers, allowing them to simulate large systems and spur advancements in physics, chemistry and other fields. Rather than storing information in binary 0s or 1s like classical computers, quantum computers rely on “qubits,” which can be both 0 and 1 simultaneously, greatly increasing the amount of information that can be encoded.
The technology is in its infancy and is largely limited to prototypes and demonstrations. Scientists say the practical and widespread applications of quantum computers are probably years away.
Learn more: Why quantum computers will someday be super awesome: QuickTake
Recent Amazon hires include research scientists who focus on designing a new superconducting quantum device as well as building devices. Developing its own quantum computer would allow Amazon to more closely mirror the approach taken by its main cloud competitors. International Business Machines Corp. made a quantum computer available to the public for the first time in 2016, and has rolled out regular upgrades.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google last year said it had built a computer that achieved “quantum supremacy,” performing a 200-second computation that would take around 10,000 years for the fastest supercomputers. But with the spirit of rivalry that characterized the race to build a quantum computer, IBM cast doubt on Google’s claim. In a blog post, he said that a simulation of Google’s task could be done in 2.5 days on a conventional computer with enough hard drive storage, not 10,000 years.
Amazon announced its entry into the arena last year and in August launched its first quantum computing service, called Braket, which helps cloud customers experiment with quantum algorithms running on AWS. Once they have designed their algorithms, customers can choose to run them on quantum processing systems built by other companies, including D-Wave Systems Inc., IonQ Inc., and Rigetti Computing. At the time, Amazon noted its interest in developing hardware, but stopped before announcing plans to build its own computer.
A person briefed on Amazon’s plans, but not authorized to discuss them, said the company uses a superconductor model, an approach similar to that used by Google and IBM, among others. The person said Amazon was in the process of recruiting to staff its group with quantum computing.
Last year, Amazon announced the launch of the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, which aimed to bring together researchers from Amazon, the California Institute of Technology, and other academic research institutes to develop new computing technologies. quantum.
