Alice & Bob Wants to Make Quantum Computing 10 Times Cheaper

French quantum computing hardware company Alice & Bob has received $17.8 million in public funding to make quantum computing 10 times cheaper and market-ready three years earlier.

The 36-month “Cat Factory” project will see Alice & Bob and its academic partners ENS de Lyon and Mines Paris - PSL aim to fast-track quantum computing by improving the efficiency of all parts of the system.

This will involve tackling enabling technologies, including nanofabrication, chip design and validation, digital tools and electronic control. This in turn should result in reduced costs and accelerated market readiness.

Alice & Bob uses cat qubits, a type of superconducting qubit that is promising for error correction as it produces only one class of error, the phase-flip, reducing quantum error correction to one direction.

This means fewer total qubits are needed to produce logical qubits, which are capable of performing reliable quantum computations. Alice & Bob estimate that a logical qubit could be assembled using as few as five physical cat qubits, fewer than rival models.

“We are honored to be entrusted with the task of making quantum computing useful earlier,” said Alice & Bob CEO Theau Peronnin.

“Our plan, centered around cat qubits, addresses the real challenges of quantum computing headfirst, enabling massive savings in energy and end-user costs.”

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One of the barriers to entry of quantum computing is the cost of the cryogenics required to bring the quantum processing unit (QPU) down to its operating temperature of near absolute zero. Alice & Bob aims to tackle this by increasing the number of qubits per cryostat.

“Quantum computing algorithms require hundreds of logical qubits, which translates to thousands to millions of physical qubits,” said Mines Paris – PSL project lead Florent Di Meglio.

“Cat Factory aims to reach 100 logical qubits with only three cryostats, a dramatic reduction in the hardware needed for running a useful quantum computer.”  

French public investment bank Bpifrance is funding the project as part of France 2030, a $58 billion initiative to stimulate employment, boost productivity and increase the competitiveness of French businesses.