(VirtualizationReview) The National Science Foundation has announced it will support supplemental funding requests to enable use of quantum-computing cloud platforms from Amazon Web Services (AWS), IBM and Microsoft.
Click here to read NSF Dear Colleague Letter:
The field of quantum computing has seen substantial progress in recent years, with the development of next-generation quantum processors in the 50- to 100-qubit range. Realizing the promise of such processors requires significant capacity-building to prepare the next generation of quantum discoverers. In light of the quantum-computing developments in the private sector as well as the opportunity for further innovation in the academic setting, the National Science Foundation and Amazon Web Services, IBM, and Microsoft Quantum are coordinating to make available cloud-based quantum-computing platforms to advance research and build capacity in the academic setting.
Funding will be provided by NSF for research in these areas:
- Quantum algorithms and their experimental realization
- Quantum compiler and run-time infrastructure design
- Fault-tolerant computing and other methods to boost the performance of existing quantum-computing hardware
- Benchmarking of architectures, systems, algorithms, and scalable error-correction techniques
- Quantum simulations, optimizations, cryptography, and machine learning
- Demonstrations of feasibility for applications of quantum algorithms
This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is an initial pilot to build capacity among active NSF awardees, specifically through graduate students, to enable innovation in quantum computing. The community of CISE and MPS researchers who are not already leveraging such platforms are a particular focus for this DCL. Furthermore, publication and dissemination of research-relevant experiments, code, and tutorials are strongly encouraged to ensure broad community benefit.