Chicago start-up memQ announced the GitHub release of its distributed quantum compiler (DQC), making a key qubit-agnostic and modality-agnostic component of evolving DQC architectures publicly available as an open source tool.
Many companies are working on DQC (which suddenly seems to have qualified for acronym status) in one way or another, but this open source move could really help ramp up research in this area. As memQ noted in its press release, its compilation framework allows users “to compile and schedule quantum programs across fully user-defined distributed quantum networks – even those with different qubit types, from different vendors. The software converts a standard quantum circuit into a distributed program that executes optimally over the user’s network, taking into consideration the actual computing and networking resources available and generates a time-resolved execution schedule.”
The modular architecture of memQ’s DQC compiler “gives users complete control over qubit connectivity both within and between QPUs, as well as the different connectivity and hardware restrictions such as gate durations and entanglement-generation rates,” the release added.
“We already provide the unique ability to connect quantum systems without collapsing the quantum state – but truly reaching utility scale in quantum computing will require even more than that. Quantum users need the ability to easily distribute their workloads across available hardware, networking, software and application layers to truly solve large-scale problems,” stated Manish Kumar Singh, Chief Product Officer for memQ. “For the first time, the open source memQ DQC framework delivers a practical, accessible way that distributed quantum computing approaches can be built, evaluated and executed.”
“As the quantum industry moves toward distributed architectures, the availability of standardized, qubit-agnostic tools is essential,” said André Konig, CEO of industry analyst firm Global Quantum Intelligence. “By open-sourcing their Distributed Quantum Compiler, memQ is lowering the barrier to entry and accelerating how developers design and evaluate scalable quantum networks.”
DQC has long been viewed as the model for how quantum computers and quantum networks will achieve massive scalability. The Trump administration’s June Executive Order on quantum computing called on government agencies to explore DQC as a bridge to rapid scalability. Among other recent announcements, Cisco Systems and Infleqtion have been collaborating on DQC, and Cisco also has worked on DQC with IBM and Atom Computing.
A company whose name I will not start a sentence with because it begins with a lowercase letter, memQ spun out from the University of Chicago in 2021. It raised $10 million in funding earlier this year, and has been widely viewed as one of the most promising start-ups in the quantum sector. Again, not starting a sentence with a lowercase letter, but anyway, memQ announced its compiler during partner Nvidia’s spring GTC event earlier this year as part of a broader “extensible” DQC architecture.
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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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