Oratomic raises $300M to build a viable quantum computer that needs only 20K qubits
Oratomic raises $300M to build a viable quantum computer that needs only 20K qubits
Oratomic 融资 3 亿美元，旨在打造仅需 2 万量子比特的可行量子计算机
A number of companies, betting on various architectural approaches, are trying to build the first commercially viable quantum computer capable of significantly outperforming current systems. Oratomic, which entered the race earlier this year with the goal of developing the first utility-scale quantum computer by the end of the decade, said this week that it has raised $300 million. 许多公司正押注于各种架构方案，试图打造出首台能够显著超越现有系统的商业可行量子计算机。Oratomic 于今年早些时候加入这场竞赛，目标是在本十年末开发出首台实用规模的量子计算机。该公司本周宣布已完成 3 亿美元融资。
The massive Series A round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercarbon Capital, Bain Capital, and others. Founded by Caltech physicists, Oratomic uses lasers, which act as optical tweezers, to hold individual atoms in place as the basis for its quantum computer. 这轮大规模的 A 轮融资由 ARCH Venture Partners、Spark Capital 和 Khosla Ventures 共同领投，Bezos Expeditions、Index Ventures、General Catalyst、Lowercarbon Capital、Bain Capital 等机构参投。Oratomic 由加州理工学院的物理学家创立，利用激光作为“光镊”来固定单个原子，以此作为其量子计算机的基础。
The startup was launched after its researchers discovered that their approach can correct errors using significantly fewer qubits — the basic unit in quantum computing — than previously thought possible. Since quantum computers are sensitive to noise, effective error correction is the key to turning them into truly useful tools. 这家初创公司成立的契机是其研究人员发现，他们的方法在纠错时所需的量子比特（量子计算的基本单位）数量远低于此前的预期。由于量子计算机对噪声非常敏感，有效的纠错是将其转化为真正实用工具的关键。
“You would have not previously been able to convince any of us to start a quantum computing company, because we just thought it was way too far away,” Oratomic’s co-founder and CEO Dolev Bluvstein told TechCrunch. “Only when we made this recent breakthrough did we simultaneously all change our minds.” “以前你不可能说服我们中的任何一个人去创办一家量子计算公司，因为我们当时认为这项技术还太遥远，”Oratomic 的联合创始人兼首席执行官 Dolev Bluvstein 在接受 TechCrunch 采访时表示，“直到我们最近取得了这一突破，我们才同时改变了想法。”
While most other quantum companies are making prototypes available to research scientists and corporations, Oratomic has no plans to develop or sell these systems, known as noisy intermediate-scale quantum, or NISQ. Bluvstein noted that Oratomic shouldn’t be compared to PsiQuantum, a startup valued at $7 billion last September, which is also bypassing the NISQ stage and aims to deliver a viable, million-qubit quantum computer by the end of next year. 虽然大多数其他量子计算公司正向研究科学家和企业提供原型机，但 Oratomic 并不打算开发或销售这些被称为“含噪声中等规模量子”（NISQ）的系统。Bluvstein 指出，Oratomic 不应与去年 9 月估值达 70 亿美元的初创公司 PsiQuantum 相提并论，后者同样跳过了 NISQ 阶段，目标是在明年年底前交付一台可行的百万量子比特量子计算机。
Oratomic’s approach is fundamentally simpler and less expensive, Bluvstein argued. “The difference is that we need roughly 10,000 to 20,000 qubits to build a useful computer, and we have already experimentally demonstrated all of the core components required of that computer at a slightly smaller scale,” he said. Bluvstein 认为，Oratomic 的方法从根本上更简单且成本更低。“区别在于，我们只需要大约 1 万到 2 万个量子比特就能构建一台实用的计算机，而且我们已经在较小的规模上通过实验验证了该计算机所需的所有核心组件，”他说。
A full-scale quantum computer could facilitate breakthroughs in any field requiring complex calculations, from biotech, chemistry, and logistics to artificial intelligence and cryptography. Companies working toward building these machines and developing software for their use have seen a wave of enthusiasm from investors recently. 全规模的量子计算机可以推动任何需要复杂计算领域的突破，从生物技术、化学、物流到人工智能和密码学。近期，致力于构建这些机器并开发相关软件的公司受到了投资者的热烈追捧。
Several startups in the space, including Infleqtion and Quantinuum, have gone public this year. Meanwhile, existing public companies like Rigetti and IonQ have seen their share prices surge over the past 18 months. Still, investor Vinod Khosla is so confident Oratomic will build the first fault-tolerant quantum computer that he wrote on X it was his firm’s “largest initial investment yet.” 该领域的多家初创公司（包括 Infleqtion 和 Quantinuum）已于今年上市。与此同时，Rigetti 和 IonQ 等现有的上市公司在过去 18 个月里股价飙升。尽管如此，投资者 Vinod Khosla 对 Oratomic 能够率先构建出容错量子计算机充满信心，他在 X 上写道，这是他公司“迄今为止最大的一笔初始投资”。