OQC's Series A, the largest UK quantum computing company, receives $47 million in funding.

In June, Amazon revealed the AWS Center for Quantum Networking to promote the science and engineering of linking quantum computers.

OQC's Series A Receives $47M Support From Investors

In recent years, quantum computing has evolved from a theoretical notion to a range of testing scenarios to help organizations prepare for the day when its unrivaled processing capability becomes a scalable reality.

The development of Oxford Quantum Circuits' own contribution to the field-a patented 3D processor architecture it calls Coaxmon, as well as quantum computing as a service that will operate on it-is now being fueled by £38 million ($47 million) in investment, according to the UK-based company. According to OQC, this Series A is the biggest one a UK-based quantum computing business has ever raised.

In an interview, the founding CEO of OQC, Ilana Wisby, said that their systems are being optimized as they work quickly. They keep growing and bringing down mistake rates as they strive for seamless quantum access.

The business will utilize this Series A investment to build up its private quantum computing as-a-service offering and quantum systems. Additionally, it will strengthen OQC's position in Europe and quicken the region's worldwide growth, notably in Japan, a hotspot for financial services keen to use quantum computing.

Wisby also remarked that the UK's most significant Series A in quantum computing had reached its initial closure, confirming its investors' faith in its capacity to steer the global quantum sector. It is evidence of the considerable technological and economic advancement we have made recently, courtesy of our top-notch staff. Additionally, it marks the start of our worldwide expansion and puts quantum at all our clients' fingertips.

OQC began raising this Series A before the pandemic in early 2020, it postponed that process and instead turned to grants to expand the firm in its early stages, according to its CEO.

Announcing the AWS Center for Quantum Networking

In order to eventually introduce quantum computing to the cloud, Amazon unveiled a new initiative on June 21. The business today unveiled the AWS Center for Quantum Networking, a fresh research initiative to advance the science and engineering of connecting quantum computers, both for the construction of more potent, multiprocessor networks for computation and development of secure quantum communication networks.

Amazon and AWS invested much in quantum computing in recent years. Amazon Braket gives developers access to quantum computers from IonQ, Oxford Quantum Circuits, Rigetti, and D-Wave, including software tools and simulators. The corporation is also running two research-centric efforts: the AWS Center for Quantum Computing in Pasadena, California, which focuses on producing stronger qubits and error correction algorithms, and the Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab, which helps organizations prepare for quantum computing.

The Center for Quantum Computing and the Quantum Solutions Lab primarily concentrate on long-term research projects. In contrast, Braket and the Quantum Solutions Lab focus on short-term practical solutions.

The majority of the research on quantum networking is now being done in state-funded research labs. It is somewhat novel that Amazon is now concentrating on this aspect of quantum computing, given that most commercial quantum computing efforts have been at the processor level (and the ecosystem around that). However, given that quantum processing units are now beginning to mature to a level that would have been considered science fiction only a decade or two ago, it may be the right time to focus on this aspect of quantum computing.