Nvidia & Infleqtion Plugged A Quantum Computer Into A Supercomputer

Quantum computing had zero logical qubits. In 2024 that changed. The entire industry crossed a threshold that nobody had managed to cross in three and a half decades. Infleqtion was one of the first companies through.In this episode, Mark and Jeremy learn from Pranav Gokhale, CTO of Infleqtion, and Sam Stanwyck, Group Product Manager for Quantum Computing at Nvidia. They learn how Nvidia built a four microsecond connection between a GPU and a quantum processor and why that number is the difference between theory and reality. They get into why a GPU and a quantum computer are not competitors but the most complementary technologies ever built. They cover how Infleqtion's quantum computers use the same power as ten hairdryers even at 1,600 qubits. They talk through why drug discovery, battery design and material science are the first industries that quantum will actually change. Finally, they find out about a $20 million NASA partnership sending a quantum gravity sensor to space to measure gravity.

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Chapters

(00:00) Why quantum computing matters right now 

(01:20) Why Nvidia is betting big on quantum 

(02:52) NVQ-Link: the bridge between quantum and classical computing

(09:29) Who decides what runs on the quantum computer vs the GPU?

(12:33) AI helping quantum, quantum helping AI 

(16:56) Building a space elevator battery: a real quantum workflow 

(20:09) The quantum algorithm zoo 

(22:04) From noisy qubits to logical qubits 

(24:00) How much energy does a quantum computer actually use? 

(27:05) The no-cloning theorem

(27:20) The biggest unanswered question in quantum computing

(30:47) A $20M NASA program and a telescope for underground 

(33:32) What do we want humans to be?