This week, NIST’s announcement of the first post-quantum encryption standards marks a significant milestone in securing our digital future against quantum threats. The DOE named the 2024 Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellows, recognizing four top researchers for their contributions. Nadia Carlsten was appointed CEO of Denmark’s new AI supercomputing initiative, further bolstering Europe’s leadership in AI.

Additionally, Ke Fan and Daniel Nichols were honored with the 2024 ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships for their outstanding research. DARPA also announced a meeting with quantum computing companies as part of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.

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NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory Advances with $5M Funding for 5 Pilot Projects

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12, 2024 — The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced a $5 million investment across five pilot projects as part of the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) initiative. This funding aims to accelerate the development of quantum technologies, with the NQVL serving as a national resource to foster collaboration and innovation in quantum information science. These pilot projects are designed to bridge the gap between fundamental research and practical applications, helping to realize the potential societal benefits of quantum-scale phenomena.

Read the full announcement here.

Cerabyte Joins CERN openlab, Bringing New Data Storage Tech for Scientific Research

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MUNICH, Aug. 12, 2024 — Cerabyte this week announced that it has become an official CERN openlab member. As a member, Cerabyte will collaborate to develop secure, sustainable, cost-effective data storage solutions for CERN’s research activities. CERN openlab is CERN’s public-private partnership that aims to accelerate computing for science and explore innovative, sustainably responsible technologies.

“As an organization with almost 70 years of history, CERN has created large volumes of data of many different types,” said Maria Girone, Head of CERN openlab. “It is critical for CERN to store data indefinitely in a sustainable, cost-effective, secure and resilient way. With this collaboration, we aim to advance data preservation research and inform CERN’s long-term plans for data archival.”

Read more here.

EU Launches Project for Cryogenic Quantum Computing Technologies

LEUVEN, Belgium, Aug. 12, 2024 — The ARCTIC (“Advanced Research on Cryogenic Technologies for Innovative Computing”) project intends to establish a complete and comprehensive European supply chain for cryogenic photonics, microelectronics, and, in general, cryo-microsystems around the emerging quantum computing industry and different cryo-enabled ICT applications.

“The performance requirements asked from electronic devices and circuits at cryogenic temperatures are quite different compared to those at room temperature. Especially when interfacing very sensitive applications such as quantum processors, all aspects of microelectronic technologies need to be optimized,” said Alexander Grill, scientific leader of ARCTIC at IMEC.

Read the full article here.

Q-CTRL Partners with Indian State of Tamil Nadu for Quantum Workforce Training

CHENNAI, India, Aug. 12, 2024 — The Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Q-CTRL this week announced a partnership that kickstarts quantum education in India through a first-of-its-kind statewide rollout.

Q-CTRL’s Black Opal will become a mandatory learning module for engineering students within the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation’s (TNSDC) Naan Mudhalvan Upskilling Platform. Coupled with Q-CTRL’s initial partnership with the Quad Investors Network (QUIN), this new partnership with Tamil Nadu demonstrates Q-CTRL’s commitment to bringing accessible quantum education to Quad countries

Read the full announcement here.

NIST Releases First 3 Finalized Post-Quantum Encryption Standards

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Aug. 13, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this week finalized its principal set of encryption algorithms designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer.

Researchers around the world are racing to build quantum computers that would operate in radically different ways from ordinary computers and could break the current encryption that provides security and privacy for just about everything we do online. The algorithms announced today are specified in the first completed standards from NIST’s post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization project, and are ready for immediate use.

“Quantum computing technology could become a force for solving many of society’s most intractable problems, and the new standards represent NIST’s commitment to ensuring it will not simultaneously disrupt our security,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Laurie E. Locascio. “These finalized standards are the capstone of NIST’s efforts to safeguard our confidential electronic information.”

Read the full release here and see our special coverage here.

IBM-Developed Algorithms Announced as World’s 1st Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2024 — Two IBM-developed algorithms have been officially formalized within the world’s first three post-quantum cryptography standards, which were published today by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

“IBM’s mission in quantum computing is two-fold: to bring useful quantum computing to the world and to make the world quantum-safe. We are excited about the incredible progress we have made with today’s quantum computers, which are being used across global industries to explore problems as we push towards fully error-corrected systems,” said Jay Gambetta, Vice President, IBM Quantum. “However, we understand these advancements could herald an upheaval in the security of our most sensitive data and systems. NIST’s publication of the world’s first three post-quantum cryptography standards marks a significant step in efforts to build a quantum-safe future alongside quantum computing.”

Read more here.

DOE Announces 2024 Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellows and Lecture Series

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2024 — Four of the nation’s top scientists have each been awarded $1 million in direct funding via the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellows program. The 2024 winners are Mary Raafat Mikhail Bishai (Brookhaven Lab), Lois Curfman McInnes (Argonne Lab), Kristin Persson (Berkeley Lab), and Gerald A. Tuskan (ORNL).

The program was established to develop, sustain, and promote scientific and academic excellence in Office of Science (SC) research through collaborations between universities and national laboratories.

“It is an honor to recognize the outstanding research of these awardees,” said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the DOE Office of Science. “They are advancing science solutions for the nation and taking on some of our biggest challenges in bioenergy, materials science, physics, and computing.”

Read the full announcement here.

PSC Secures $4.9M NSF Grant to Enhance Bridges-2 Supercomputer with NVIDIA H100 GPUs

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 13, 2024 — A $4.9-million award from the National Science Foundation has funded an upgrade to PSC’s flagship Bridges-2 supercomputer. The grant allows the center to add late-model powerful NVIDIA H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) to the system, further enhancing its ability to support research in and requiring artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in the context of massive data and high-performance computing (HPC).

“Bridges-2 has already enabled many impactful ML projects and projects involving ML and HPC using the existing V100-based GPU nodes,” said Sergiu Sanielevici, PhD, Director of Support for Scientific Applications at PSC and Principal Investigator in the Bridges-2 project. “Augmenting this capability with H100-based GPU nodes will significantly improve the performance of our community’s ML and HPC workloads.”

Read more here.

New Zealand Invests $20M in New Supercomputer for Advanced Climate and Weather Research

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Aug. 13, 2024 — The government of New Zealand has announced the purchase of a new $20 million (~US$12.12 million) supercomputer. The next generation supercomputer is the fourth purchased by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) since its initial investment in high performance computing (HPC) in 1999.

“As the biggest research computer in New Zealand, it represents a $20 million investment in NIWA’s world-leading climate, marine and freshwater science and advanced technologies,” said NIWA Chief Executive John Morgan. “The new computer will have 2.5 to 3 times more generational power than its predecessor, allowing for higher resolution, more frequent processing and additional AI workloads.”

Read the full announcement here.

QuEra and Quantum Intelligence Partner to Accelerate Drug Discovery with Quantum Computing

SEOUL and BOSTON, Aug 13, 2024 — QuEra Computing and Quantum Intelligence Corp. (QIC), a South Korean pioneer in AI-driven drug development, have announced a strategic partnership. The partnership will utilize the computing power of QuEra’s quantum computers to boost the performance of QIC’s QUEST platform. This integration of quantum computing with artificial intelligence aims to modernize the traditional approaches to drug development, making the process faster, more precise, and more efficient.

“At Quantum Intelligence, we are at the forefront of merging quantum and AI technologies to innovate within the biopharmaceutical industry,” said Dr. Hwanho Choi, CEO of QIC. “Our work with QuEra Computing will allow us to accurately detect potential side effects at the early stages of drug development, greatly reducing risks and improving the safety and effectiveness of new treatments.”

Read the full announcement here.

Nadia Carlsten, Former SandboxAQ Executive, Appointed CEO of Danish AI Supercomputing Initiative

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Aug. 14, 2024 — The Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) this week announced the appointment of Nadia Carlsten as CEO of Danish Centre for AI Innovation A/S (DCAI), a company which will own and run Denmark’s first AI supercomputer, Gefion.

“The combination of a strong scientific background and extensive experience in translating the incredible potential of new technologies – specifically AI and quantum – into real-world solutions makes Nadia Carlsten the ideal person to lead this initiative,” said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. “Her global outlook will also help ensure that the knowledge and innovation developed at DCAI will have impact far beyond Denmark.”

Read the full announcement here.

ORNL, UTC to Collaborate in Quantum Information Science and Engineering

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 14, 2024 — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are entering into a memorandum of understanding with the intent to collaborate in efforts to research, develop, deploy and evaluate technology and analytically based solutions to challenges in the area of quantum information science and engineering, including networking, sensing, and computing.

“The new collaboration between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an exciting development, bringing together top researchers to tackle the major challenges in the quantum field,” said U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. “By mentoring the next generation of quantum scientists right here in Tennessee, we are ensuring that America remains at the forefront, leading the world in these cutting-edge technologies.”

Read the entire article here.

LLNL, DOD, NNSA Introduce New Supercomputing and Experimental Lab for Accelerated Biodefense Research

LIVERMORE, Calif., Aug. 14, 2024 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently welcomed officials from the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to dedicate a new supercomputing system and Rapid Response Laboratory (RRL). DOD is working with NNSA to significantly increase the computing capability available to the national biodefense programs. The collaboration has enabled expanding systems of the same architecture as LLNL’s upcoming exascale supercomputer, El Capitan, featuring AMD’s cutting-edge MI300A processors.

“Exascale supercomputing and other technical enablers underscore DOD’s commitment to building enduring advantages and delivering cutting-edge defensive capabilities to ensure the Total Force can deter or prevail against advanced chemical and biological threats,” Watson said.

Read more here.

SiFive Announces New High Performance RISC-V Datacenter Processor for Demanding AI Workloads

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2024 — SiFive, Inc. has announced its new Performance P870-D datacenter processor to meet customer requirements for highly parallelizable infrastructure workloads. When used in combination with products from the SiFive Intelligence product family, datacenter architects can also build an extremely high-performance, energy efficient compute subsystem for AI-powered applications.

“Energy efficiency is going to be a major factor for data center architects for the foreseeable future. This is a clear differentiator for RISC-V and why we expect the architecture to play a major role in the continued growth of high-performance data center processing,” said Edward Wilford, Senior Research Director, Omdia. “We forecast that more power-efficient data center processors will make up over 40% of the market by volume in 2030, driven by the growth of open-source software and open-standard architecture.”

Read more here.

Ke Fan and Daniel Nichols Named Recipients of 2024 ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2024 — ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the IEEE Computer Society announced that Ke Fan of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Daniel Nichols of the University of Maryland are the recipients of the 2024 ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships. The George Michael Memorial Fellowship honors exceptional PhD students throughout the world whose research focus is high-performance computing (HPC) applications, networking, storage, or large-scale data analytics.

Fan is recognized for her research in three key areas of high-performance computing: optimizing the performance of MPI collectives, enhancing the performance of irregular parallel I/O operations, and improving the scalability of performance introspection frameworks. Nichols is recognized for advancements in machine-learning based performance modeling and the advancement of large language models for HPC and scientific codes.

Read the full announcement here.

Quantum Circuits Secures More Than $60M in Series B Investment

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug. 15, 2024 — Quantum Circuits, Inc. announced it has secured a final Series B investment round of more than $60 million, providing additional capital support as the company prepares to commercialize its quantum systems with an industry first – error detection built into a more powerful qubit for scalable, higher-fidelity computing.

“The founding goal for Quantum Circuits has always been to focus on the biggest challenge for quantum computing – to deliver reliable fault-tolerant and scalable quantum computers,” said Rob Schoelkopf, Quantum Circuits’ founder and Chief Scientist. “We take the strategy of ‘correct first, then scale,’ using our built-in error detection and correction.”

Read more here.

ACM Launches New Award to Recognize Researchers from Historically Underrepresented Communities

NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2024 — ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, this week announced that it has initiated the Luiz André Barroso Award to recognize researchers from historically underrepresented communities who have made fundamental contributions to computer science.

The ACM Luiz André Barroso Award will be given annually, and the winner of the award will give a one-hour invited talk at a major ACM conference of their choice. A video of the talk will be made available on the ACM website. The award carries a cash prize of $40,000 and includes travel expenses to the conference, plus an additional $10,000 cash contribution to an approved charity of the awardee’s choice. Financial support for the Luiz André Barroso Award is provided by Google.

The nomination deadline is December 15, 2024 – end of day, anywhere on earth (AoE), UTC -12 hours.

Read the full announcement here.

HPE Acquires Morpheus Data to Strengthen Hybrid Cloud Management

HOUSTON, Aug. 15, 2024 — Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) this week announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Morpheus Data, a pioneer in software for hybrid cloud management and platform operations.

“This acquisition is the result of a long-term relationship between HPE and Morpheus Data that has already proven successful with customers. Together we will be able to help more customers transform their multicloud, multi-vendor IT estates to thrive and innovate in this increasingly complex and fragmented IT landscape,” said Brian Wheeler, co-founder and CEO, Morpheus Data.

Read more here.

GIGABYTE Introduces New G593 Servers Supporting NVIDIA HGX H200 for Enhanced AI and Scientific Workloads

Aug. 15, 2024 — GIGABYTE this week added two new 8-GPU baseboard servers to the GIGABYTE G593 series that support the NVIDIA HGX H200, a GPU memory platform ideal for large AI datasets, as well as scientific simulations and other memory-intensive workloads.

With dedicated real estate for cooling GPUs, the G593 series achieves stable, demanding performance in its compact 5U chassis with high airflow for incredible compute density. The new additions are G593-SD1-AAX3, supporting 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors; and G593-ZD1-AAX3, supporting AMD EPYC 9004 Series processors with up to 96 CPU cores.

Read more here.

DARPA’s SMS Initiative Targets Comprehensive Computational Models for E. coli Simulation

BALLSTON, Va, Aug. 16, 2024 — DARPA’s Simulating Microbial Systems (SMS) program seeks to create comprehensive and generalizable computational models that predict the behavior of bacteria

Current simulations of biology are either physically accurate or scalable, but not both; in particular, models of a single whole useful cell are incomplete. The behavior of simple model organisms can be partially simulated, but knowledge gaps remain. Furthermore, simulations of more complex organisms such as E. coli remain elusive.

Comprehensive and fully descriptive computational models of E. coli behavior, while complex, offer significant advantages, including an important opportunity to contextualize and align parameters across different dimensions of cell function and more utility for potential Department of Defense (DoD) stakeholders and use cases compared to simplified model organisms (e.g., a minimal cell).

Read more here.

Rigetti Introduces Novel Chip Fabrication Process For Scalable, High Performing QPUs

BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 16, 2024 — Rigetti Computing, Inc. has announced that its paper introducing a novel chip fabrication process, Alternating-Bias Assisted Annealing (ABAA), was recently published in Nature Communications Materials. ABAA allows for more precise qubit frequency targeting, enabling improved execution of 2-qubit gates and improvement in performance, which both contribute to higher fidelity. This technique is now being leveraged to fabricate chips for Rigetti QPUs, including the Novera QPU and the upcoming Ankaa-3 system.

“We’ve long known that having our own foundry is a tremendous asset to our chip design and fabrication processes. Introducing the ABAA technique is a perfect example of our ability to rapidly test and implement new methods to improve our capabilities,” said Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. “We believe this new technique strengthens our path to scaling to even higher qubit count systems with greater control over our qubit performance.”

Read the full announcement here.

Google Outlines Implementation of NIST’s Post-Quantum Cryptography Standard

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif,, Aug. 16, 2024 — In a recent blog post, Google’s Royal Hansen and Phil Venables have provided an in-depth look at the newly finalized post-quantum cryptography standards released by NIST.

They explore what these standards mean for the future of encryption, how Google is already implementing them, and offer guidance for organizations preparing for the transition to a quantum-resistant security landscape.

Read the full article here.

DARPA to Host Meeting, Discussions with Quantum Computing Companies

BALLSTON, Va, Aug. 16, 2024 — Following the July announcement of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), DARPA is hosting a QBI proposers day on Sept. 3, 2024, for quantum computing companies that believe they are on track to develop an industrial-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in the near term.

The goal of the hybrid in-person and virtual proposers day is to introduce the quantum computing research and development community to DARPA and the QBI vision and goals, explain the mechanics and milestones of the QBI solicitation, and solicit and reply to questions from attendees.

Read the full announcement here.