Dear Qubit Community,
Welcome to the latest edition of Qubit.IL’s weekly newsletter, where we dive into the fascinating world of quantum technologies, explore groundbreaking advancements, and connect with our vibrant quantum community. Whether you’re a seasoned researcher, a curious student, or simply quantum-curious, this is your gateway to staying informed and inspired about the quantum landscape.
Best Regards,
The Qubit.IL Team
Business, Technology and Engineering Highlights
NVIDIA Eyes Investment in PsiQuantum to Boost Photonic Quantum Ambitions – Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks to invest in Silicon Valley startup PsiQuantum. The move would mark a strategic leap for Nvidia into photonic quantum computing, after its CEO had long suggested practical quantum computers were decades away. PsiQuantum is known for leveraging standard semiconductor fabrication to build large-scale photonic qubit systems, and is raising a new round at a reported $6 billion valuation. Nvidia’s interest follows its recent opening of a quantum research lab in Boston and underscores growing confidence that quantum breakthroughs may arrive sooner than expected.
For further information: https://www.reuters.com/business/nvidia-advanced-talks-invest-psiquantum-information-reports-2025-05-19/Japan Launches G-QuAT: World’s Largest Quantum Research Supercomputer – Japan’s AIST institute officially opened the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT) on May 18, featuring ABCI-Q – the world’s largest supercomputer dedicated to quantum R&D . The hybrid system marries 2,020 NVIDIA H100 GPUs with cutting-edge quantum hardware: a 64-qubit superconducting module by Fujitsu, a neutral-atom quantum processor from QuEra, and a photonic processor by OptQC. Cryogenic specialist Bluefors installed 18 advanced dilution refrigerators at the facility, including a KIDE platform capable of supporting 1,000+ qubits. By enabling massive quantum–classical experiments (for example in error correction and materials simulation), G-QuAT is set to accelerate practical quantum computing breakthroughs and train talent at an unprecedented scale.
For further information: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-powers-worlds-largest-quantum-research-supercomputerMicrosoft Previews Post-Quantum Cryptography Tools for Windows and Linux – Microsoft has released early-access post-quantum cryptography (PQC) capabilities to help organizations start testing quantum-resistant security. Announced during Build 2025, the update introduces NIST’s standardized PQC algorithms for key exchange and digital signatures (e.g. variants of Kyber and Dilithium) into Windows 11 Insider builds and in Microsoft’s OpenSSL-based library for Linux. Security teams can now experiment with these quantum-safe encryption algorithms in preparation for future “Q-Day” threats, when quantum computers could break classical RSA/ECC encryption. By rolling out PQC support years in advance, Microsoft aims to ease the eventual transition to quantum-safe infrastructure and ensure that both the Windows ecosystem and Linux applications are ready for a post-quantum world.
For further information: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/post-quantum-cryptography-comes-to-windows-insiders-and-linux/ba-p/3837686Q-CTRL & Network Rail Demo Quantum-Enhanced Train Scheduling – Australian quantum startup Q-CTRL, in partnership with the UK’s Network Rail and Department for Transport, has developed a quantum optimization solver for railway scheduling. Using Q-CTRL’s Fire Opal platform on IBM quantum hardware, the team successfully computed optimal routing for 26 trains through London Bridge station over an 18-minute window– the largest constrained quantum optimization problem solved to date (formulated with 103 qubits). This quantum-enhanced approach, which applies error-suppression and hybrid algorithms, achieved up to a 6× increase in solvable problem size on today’s devices. The demonstration, backed by a £1 million UK grant, suggests that quantum computers could reach an advantage in complex logistics by late this decade. The rail scheduling solver will be further developed for real-world use in transportation and other sectors like logistics and aerospace, highlighting practical early applications of quantum computing in optimization.
For further information: https://quantumcomputingreport.com/q-ctrl-and-network-rail-demonstrate-large-scale-quantum-optimization-for-rail-scheduling/
Research Highlights
1 Million Qubits Could Crack RSA-2048 in a Week, Study Finds – A new research paper from Google Quantum AI significantly lowers the estimated resources needed to break RSA encryption. Researcher Craig Gidney shows that a 2048-bit RSA key could theoretically be factored by a quantum computer with <1 million noisy qubits running for under one week. This is a 20× improvement over the team’s 2019 estimate of ~20 million qubits, thanks to algorithmic optimizations and better error-correction strategies (e.g. using approximate modular exponentiation and more efficient magic-state distillation). While quantum computers today only have on the order of a few hundred qubits, and NIST has standardized post-quantum algorithms, the result underscores the urgency for migrating to quantum-safe cryptography. The researchers emphasize that steadily shrinking qubit requirements make planning for PQC migration an immediate priority for governments and industry.
For the research paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.15917Quantum Computer Simulates Molecules’ Real-Time Behavior – Scientists at the University of Sydney have achieved the first quantum simulation of real-time molecular dynamics, a milestone in quantum chemistry. Using a trapped-ion quantum computer, the team simulated how actual molecules (such as allene and pyrazine) respond when excited by light – capturing ultrafast processes like bond vibrations and electron transitions that are exceedingly hard to model on classical computers. The analog quantum simulation ran on a single trapped ytterbium ion, making it about one million times more hardware-efficient than a comparable digital quantum algorithm. This approach, published in J. Amer. Chem. Soc. in May, opens the door to studying photochemical reactions relevant to drug discovery, solar energy, and materials science. It marks a step toward practical quantum-enabled chemistry, as future quantum simulators could tackle complex reactions beyond the reach of supercomputers.
For further information: https://english.news.cn/20250515/7f0f504dd7ce4d31be73c4b3fd8cef4d/c.html
For the research paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04044