Microsoft announced that it has collaborated with Rigetti Computing, a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. As a part of this partnership, Microsoft will offer Rigetti quantum computers over the cloud to users of its Azure Quantum service.
When the Rigetti system is fully operational, it will be the largest quantum computer available on Azure Quantum. According to the two companies, the integration is expected to be finished and available to consumers in the first quarter of 2022.
Quantum computers are information processing devices that employ quantum physics phenomena. Information in a classical computer is represented as a binary bit where a bit can be a one or a zero. In comparison, information is represented in a quantum computer by a quantum bit, or qubit, which may be placed in a quantum state that allows it to represent both zero and one at the same time.
Furthermore, in a classical computer, each bit in a computer chip works individually. The qubits of a quantum computer are “entangled” with others in the quantum processor, allowing them to collaborate to find a solution. As a result, quantum computers, in principle, have exponentially more power than classical computers backed by these two features.
Rigetti quantum computers employ superconducting qubits, which have demonstrated faster execution speeds and more scalability than other commercially available quantum computing systems. Rigetti quantum computers have the potential to help tackle a wide range of practical challenges, including machine learning, drug discovery, renewable energy, logistics optimization, and financial simulations, thanks to their performance characteristics.
It also excels in quantum processing languages and applications like combinatorial optimization, which entails decreasing functions with a high number of variables. As a result, Rigetti’s self-reliance grows, and it becomes a considerably more appealing investment choice since it has a variety of cards to play.
Krysta Svore, General Manager of Microsoft Quantum, had this to say about the collaboration: “Rigetti’s scalable approach to superconducting quantum computers will create new opportunities for the Azure Quantum development community.” Krysta also adds, “We’re working closely with Rigetti to deliver hybrid quantum-classical computing with the performance to tackle problems that were previously out of reach.”
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Rigetti is currently attending Q2B 2021, a quantum computing conference, where it will demonstrate a quantum chemistry algorithm operating on a Rigetti quantum computer in the cloud employing Microsoft’s quantum intermediate representation (QIR). Rigetti and Microsoft are working together through the QIR Alliance to make quantum computing more compatible, which will cut development efforts for everyone in the area.
QIR will also be available on Azure Quantum to enable low latency and parallel execution.
Azure Quantum, according to Microsoft, is the finest development environment for simultaneously developing quantum algorithms for multiple platforms while maintaining the flexibility to adjust the same algorithms for different systems. Users may use a variety of programming languages to run their algorithms on numerous quantum systems, including Qiskit, Cirq, and Q#.
