Xanadu Lands $100 Million as Investments Pour Into Quantum Computing

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Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., which aims to commercialize quantum computing using particles of light, has raised $100 million in new funding as investor interest in the industry heats up.On Tuesday, Xanadu announced a Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest such firms. Funding to date for the five-year-old company now totals $145 million, said Christian Weedbrook, founder and chief executive of Xanadu. Quantum computing has the potential to solve some problems many millions of times faster than a conventional computer, which is why major technology companies and startups are working to commercialize it using various approaches. Traditional computers store information as either zeros or ones. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which represent and...

Google Aims for Commercial-Grade Quantum Computer by 2029

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Alphabet Inc.’s Google plans to spend several billion dollars to build a quantum computer by 2029 that can perform large-scale business and scientific calculations without errors, said Hartmut Neven, a distinguished scientist at Google who oversees the company’s Quantum AI program. The company recently opened an expanded California-based campus focused on the effort, he said.“We are at this inflection point,” said Dr. Neven, who has been researching quantum computing at Google since 2006. “We now have the important components in hand that make us confident. We know how to execute the road map.” Chief Executive Sundar Pichai announced the timeline and introduced the new Google Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday at Google’s annual developer...

Amazon’s Bid to Recover JEDI Cloud Computing Contract Stays Alive

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WASHINGTON— Amazon. com Inc.’s bid to win back the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud computing contract stayed alive Wednesday as a federal judge rejected motions by the Defense Department and Microsoft Corp. to dismiss much of Amazon’s challenge of the contract award. Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims rejected the motions, according to a court docket entry. Her opinion and order in the case weren’t made public immediately, making the extent of the government’s legal defeat unclear. The move is significant nonetheless because it opens the door to continued protracted court battles over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract. ...