Happy New Year! Not too many quantum creatures were stirring over the holiday break, but here’s a quick update on recent news, starting with a glance forward to next week:
- The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week will feature a two-day experience called CES Foundry at the Hotel Fontainebleau (not in the midst of the core CES chaos at the convention center, but only steps away). Though we don’t often think of quantum intersecting with consumer electronics, CES Foundry was announced last spring with a focus on quantum and AI, and companies such as D-Wave Quantum, SuperQ, IBM, Mckinsey, and Quantum Computing, Inc., have signed on to host demonstrations and participate in sessions. Here’s the schedule. There are supposed to be one or two quantum-related announcements breaking between early next week, so be sure to follow QNN for more details.
- Russia has a 72-qubit neutral-atom quantum computer, according to Russian news agency TASS. This news arrived almost exactly one year after Russia touted a 50-qubit quantum computer. Though Russia is not often listed in the same company as the US and China in terms of being a quantum leader, it has been developing a quantum roadmap since at least 2020. The country’s quantum progress already is looking like a key story to follow in 2026.
- A US Office of Naval Research (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project led by a University of Michigan professor landed a $9 million government grant for work involving multiple university testbeds and an aim to harness quantum entanglement to improve the accuracy of distributed sensor networks.
- IonQ announced it is delivering a 100-qubit Tempo quantum computing system to the Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) as part of a continuation of an existing partnership.
- The Royal Navy in the UK has conducted its latest quantum sensing demonstration, a field trial in the Arctic designed to showcase the potential of non-GPS navigation. The Royal Navy has been involved in quantum sensing projects going back to at least 2023, including a quantum atomic clock demonstration with Infleqtion last year.
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Quantum News Nexus is a site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.
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