Osaka University and Fujitsu have established the Fujitsu Quantum Computing Joint Research Division as a collaborative venue at the university’s Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology (QIQB).
The new division will focus on the development of foundational technologies for fault-tolerant quantum computers, which are able to perform accurate calculations while correcting errors that occur in quantum bits (qubits).
These efforts will draw on the respective strengths of the two partners, combining QIQB’s advanced quantum error correction and quantum software technologies with Fujitsu’s applied knowledge in computing and quantum technologies.
Moreover, QIQB and Fujitsu aim to develop quantum software for fault-tolerant quantum computers with up to several thousand qubits as well as technologies to verify its error correcting operations.
Going forward, the two partners will strengthen their cooperation in R&D towards the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computing technologies to innovate solutions to complex societal problems through quantum technology.
Fault-tolerant quantum computing, capable of accurate and large-scale high-speed calculations using error correction codes, may become a key technology especially in the fields of drug discovery and finance, which require a technology able to solve complex and large-scale problems at high speed.
Assuming a quantum computer with a scale of several thousand qubits, the joint division will research and develop an error correction algorithm able to restore the original information from faulty qubits, as well as technologies to evaluate the performance of this algorithm.
In order to perform quantum computation using logical qubits generated through quantum error correction codes, the joint division will focus on the R&D and implementation of a set of software solutions required from program input to the result output.
With regard to future practical applications of this technology, the division will furthermore verify the operation of these solutions using a virtual machine environment to evaluate the effects of noise add up.