European quantum computing startups Pasqal SE and Qu&Co BV said today they’re merging in a move they say will accelerate their progress on achieving business advantage with the emerging technology.

The new entity, which will be known as Pasqal and based in Paris, said it has ambitions to deliver a 1,000-qubit quantum computer by 2023, keeping it on pace with the roadmaps of competitors in the quantum computing space.

Quantum computers are machines that use quantum mechanics to accelerate the speed at which they perform calculations. They can potentially handle tasks that are far more demanding than even today’s fastest supercomputers can handle.

Although debate persists around when quantum computers will finally become powerful enough to solve real-world problems, most experts agree they will eventually get there. That explains why Google LLC’s parent company Alphabet Inc., IBM Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. have all invested millions of dollars in building quantum machines. Those established players are joined in the race by a number of prominent quantum computing startups, including IonQ Inc., which went public in September, and Rigetti Computing Inc., which announced plans in October to do the same.

Pasqal is less well-known, but it’s hoping its merger with Qu&Co will change that dynamic, as the two companies have developed complementary technology that will enable them to offer a broad range of quantum services to the aerospace, automotive, chemistry, defense, finance, life sciences, utilities and other industries.

Pasqal has built a quantum computer that works by controlling neutral atoms – those that possess an equal number of electrons and protons – with optical “tweezers” fashioned from laser light to create quantum processors with high connectivity and scalability. The company reckons its software-agnostic quantum processing units can operate at room temperature and with lower energy, thus overcoming one of the major shortfalls of the quantum machines developed by the likes of IBM, which can only operate at temperatures close to absolute zero.

Pasqal Chief Executive Georges-Olivier Reymond told SiliconANGLE in an interview that the neutral atom technology his company is using has been vastly underrated by most of the other, more prominent players in the quantum computing field. For one thing, the technology has proved itself to be inherently scalable, with Pasqal last year demonstrating a 200-qubit quantum computer that was detailed in a paper in the journal Nature and Science.

Pasqal’s neutral atom technology also provides “unique flexibility over qubit geometry and is fully reprogrammable, allowing for efficient algorithms and a fast track towards quantum advantage,” Reymond said.

Qu&Co, meanwhile, is a developer of quantum algorithms and software for areas including computational finance, fluid dynamics and chemistry.

Reymond said the plan is to integrate Qu&Co’s rich quantum algorithm portfolio with Pasqal’s advanced quantum hardware. That will enable the companies to provide “near-term commercial benefit” to customers that include LG Electronics, Airbus SE, BMW Group and Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. “Qu&Co’s technology and exceptional talent base has proven itself across several industries and will allow us to compete with any quantum computing company in the world,” he added.

The new entity will have operations in seven countries and a total of more than 60 employees, supported by an academic advisory board of “leading professors” in quantum chemistry and quantum machine learning. Qu&Co CEO Benno Broer will remain at the newly merged company, becoming Pasqal’s chief operating officer.

“Working with Pasqal on joint research convinced us their neutral atom technology is the best solution to attain real-world commercial applications in quantum computing,” Broer said. “We were impressed by the performance of our algorithms on their hardware and the many significant contributions the company has made in the quantum industry.”

Photo: Pasqal