D-Wave uses quantum to solve real-world problem

D-Wave published its results today, peer-reviewed in the journal Science.

The classical supercomputer that D-Wave benchmarked against was the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was, until recently, the most powerful supercomputer in the world but moved to second place in November.

Two different groups of researchers published competing papers, claiming to have solved the same problem with classical computers.

However, according to Baratz, the two competing groups — the Flatiron Institute and the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) — only tackled a very small subset of the problem.

Quantum commercial uses

D-Wave already claims a number of enterprise customers for its quantum computers, including NTT Docomo, Mitsubishi Estate, Volkswagen, Toyota, Pattison Food Group, Ford Otosan, who are using it in production.

The use of the D-Wave annealing quantum computer for simulating magnetic systems is already being explored at Los Alamos National Labs and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, said Trevor Lanting, D-Wave’s chief development officer.