Rigetti and Ampere Partner to Develop Hybrid Quantum-Classical Computers
BERKELEY, Calif. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 16, 2022 — Ampere Computing and Rigetti Computing today announced a strategic partnership to create hybrid quantum-classical computers designed to unlock a new generation of machine learning applications over the cloud.
Quantum computing is emerging as potentially one of the most transformative technologies in the world. It is expected to enable scientists and engineers to address problems of extreme computational complexity in areas like climate change, fusion energy, quantitative finance, drug development, and materials science. In each of these sectors, machine learning is playing a critical role in advancing potential solutions.
Pursuant to their partnership, the two companies will integrate Rigetti Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) with Ampere Altra Max cloud-native processors to create a hybrid computing environment intended to meet the rigorous demands of machine learning applications. This tight coupling of processing power has the goal of enabling the discovery and deployment of high performance machine learning algorithms, with Ampere Altra Max powered cloud servers expected to process vast amounts of data in concert with quantum calculations performed on Rigetti QPUs.
Hybrid architectures that leverage quantum computers operating in tandem with classical computers over the cloud have been pioneered by Rigetti since the company’s inception. Today this approach is the predominant quantum computing framework for solving a myriad of commercially valuable problems.
“Our partnership with Ampere will build on years of pioneering innovation in hybrid quantum-classical computing at Rigetti. We are thrilled to accelerate our technology leadership in this area with Ampere, an emerging leader in cloud native processor technology,” said Chad Rigetti, founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing. “Together, we’re focused on building the most powerful cloud computers and enabling customers to solve many of the world’s most important and pressing problems.”
“Our collaboration with Rigetti is a natural extension of our strategy to create cloud native processors optimized for a wide range of workloads and customer needs,” said Renee James, Ampere’s founder and CEO. “Quantum machine learning is emerging as a significant opportunity for scientific computing users and their providers of public and private clouds. We believe that Ampere and Rigetti will enable quantum computations of increased complexity, with the potential for higher performance at lower costs.”
The two companies anticipate working together to optimize quantum computer simulation software to run on Ampere Altra Max processors. Quantum computer simulators enable developers to study and benchmark algorithms and applications by executing quantum circuits on classical computers before running the programs on actual quantum computers. With a simulator optimized for Altra Max, it is expected that Rigetti customers will have the ability to build and test quantum computations of increased complexity, with higher performance, at lower costs.
About Ampere
Ampere is designing the future of hyperscale cloud and edge computing with the world’s first cloud native processor. Built for the cloud with a modern 64-bit Arm server-based architecture, Ampere gives customers the freedom to accelerate the delivery of all cloud computing applications. With industry-leading cloud performance, power efficiency and scalability, Ampere processors are tailored for the continued growth of cloud and edge computing.
About Rigetti Computing
Rigetti Computing is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. The company’s proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides ultra-low latency integration with public and private clouds for high-performance practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industry’s first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Rigetti was founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti and today employs more than 140 people with offices in the United States, U.K., and Australia.
Rigetti announced in October it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II, Ltd. (“Supernova”) (NYSE:SNII), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. When the transaction closes, the publicly traded company will be named Rigetti Computing, Inc. and its common stock is expected to be listed under the ticker “RGTI.” Learn more at www.rigetti.com.
About Supernova
Supernova is led by Michael Clifton, who was most recently a technology investor at The Carlyle Group; Robert Reid, a long-time senior partner at Blackstone; Spencer Rascoff, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Hotwire, Zillow, dot.LA and Pacaso and who led Zillow as CEO for nearly a decade; and Alexander Klabin, founder and CEO of Ancient and former managing partner, co-CIO and co-founder of Senator Investment Group.
Source: Rigetti Computing
