Top 6 Quantum Computing Companies as Ranked by Google

Quantum computing developments continue apace, with tech giants racing specialized startups towards commercialization. However, only a handful of quantum computing companies receive the majority of the media attention.

One way to gauge a company's recognition in this marketplace is by checking the number of Google search results it generates. The higher the number of search results, the more likely people are to have heard of the company and its quantum computing services.

Enter Quantum checked the Google ranking of top quantum computing companies. Where the word quantum did not appear in the company’s name it was included in the search.

Despite being best known for its search engine origins, Google is a market leader in full-stack quantum computing capabilities. The company offers a range of software and hardware solutions designed explicitly for the quantum computing market. This includes Cirq, OpenFermion, and TensorFlow Quantum, libraries for building and optimizing quantum circuits, simulating fermionic systems, and prototyping quantum-classical ML models. Google's Quantum AI Lab is a significant focus and aims to research how quantum computing can help with machine learning.  

2. D-Wave Systems (104 million)

Related:13 Companies Offering Quantum-as-a-Service

D-Wave was the world’s first company to sell quantum computers. It claims to be the only quantum computing company that builds and delivers quantum systems, cloud services, application development tools and professional services. It offers both quantum annealing and gate-model quantum computers.

3. Microsoft Quantum (47.5 million results)      

Microsoft offers a full-stack, open cloud quantum computing ecosystem via its Azure cloud service, including a full range of software and hardware solutions for quantum computing. These solutions support developers in creating quantum algorithms, such as Q# programming language, a full-featured quantum computing simulator, and the Quantum Development Kit (QDK) for creating quantum applications. The company has partnered with several organizations to support quantum research and development. 

4. Intel Quantum (28.2 million results)  

Intel, a leader in the semiconductor industry, is leveraging its expertise in high-volume transistor manufacturing to develop smaller computing devices called 'hot' silicon spin-qubits. These qubits operate at higher temperatures than conventional quantum computers. Although Intel is heavily involved in superconducting and spin qubit research, its superconducting research is limited to its partnership at Qutech (Delft University). 

5. IBM Quantum (25.3 million results)

IBM Quantum is the market leader in quantum computing. IBM Quantum Lab's cloud-based platform provides public and premium access to quantum computing services. This platform features the IBM Quantum Composer, offering users access to various prototype quantum processors, quantum computation tutorials, and an interactive textbook. Users can explore the potential of quantum computing by running algorithms, experiments, and simulations.  

6. Alpine Quantum Technologies (10.2 million results)

A surprisingly high-ranking contender, Alpine Quantum Technologies is the only company on this list strictly focused on quantum computing, developing trapped ion quantum devices. Founded in 2017, AQT creates ion-trap technologies that help advance large-scale quantum computers, from scalable ion-trap processors to photonic networks connecting quantum computers. Its high ranking may in part be down to its involvement in the recently announced E.U. Millenion consortium, which focuses on modular scalability and accessibility aspects of trapped-ion quantum computers.

Conclusion  

Not surprisingly, four of the top six companies involved in quantum computing were established technology leaders before adding quantum computing to their portfolios. Extending this list presents a dramatic drop-off in search result numbers, with two well-known Chinese companies - Alibaba only mustering 5.9 million and Baidu with 3.3 million search results.

The following five companies, while well-known in their field, delivered far fewer Google search results: Atos (5.8 million), Xanadu (1.7 million), Classiq (95,000), and IonQ (120,000). 

Google search results only roughly reflect the market dynamics of the field and are dominated by a few large firms with extensive resources and capital to invest in quantum computing as part of their overall strategy. In contrast, several smaller startups specialize in specific areas of quantum computing and are better known within the industry.