Who will create the very first, functioning quantum computer? It is a question on the minds of many scientists and companies, including Orange Quantum Systems and their customers. Orange QS is a spin-off of TU Delft, TNO and part of the Quantum Delft ecosystem and the QuTech programme. The company used a ticket from the TTT Smart Industry to decide on the right course. “That boost helped us a lot, we are now fully focusing on building test machines for quantum chips on an industrial scale.”
-
-
-
-
Delen
The ambition of the QuTech programme is to accelerate quantum technology from science to practice. This will create plenty of new business and jobs. Both the ministries of OCW and EZK are contributing, including in the form of the TTT investments. Orange Quantum Systems is playing a prominent role in this story.
Highly complex calculations
A quantum computer differs substantially from the traditional PC by calculating not with single bits that have a value of 0 or 1, but with quantum bits. As a result, the computational speed is unprecedented. The computer of the future no longer considers different options individually, instead, it does everything at once. This makes calculation of very complex problems possible, something beyond the capability of classical computers. Experts agree that this development will produce ground-breaking innovations to solve major social problems. And much faster than is now possible. The development of drugs, for instance, which usually takes many years, should be a lot faster.
Solid market position
Back to Orange Quantum Systems. The company aims to hold an even firmer market position in a few years’ time with test machines for quantum chips. The contribution from the TTT programme meant a push in the right direction for Orange Quantum Systems. “Initially, we focused on building quantum computers that were fully ‘customised’, i.e., built for the customer’s specific application,” explains Amber van Hauwermeiren, one of the five founders of Orange Quantum Systems. “But we found that building equipment to test chips puts us in a unique and much stronger position. The voucher from the TTT really helped us gain new insights and set our course. During the market exploration, we found that automated testing of new chips, or certain parts of them, and the availability of testing equipment, is often a bottleneck.”
Removing obstacles
Amber hopes to free the industry from those obstacles. “The semiconductor industry has huge challenges regarding how small it is possible to make transistors. Therefore, we all need to embrace quantum technology more. A mature quantum industry is crucial to ensure we can make better chips. We take a bit of inspiration from ASML, who of course don’t make chips themselves, but supply machines that build chips. We also have an ASML director on our advisory board. All in all, we want to make an important contribution to being able to test quantum chips quickly and we are trying hard to do that.”
Major milestone: equipment sales
The fact that Orange Quantum Systems is rapidly making progress in this field was evident just before the publication of this magazine. The company experienced a huge milestone: the sale of their OrangeQS Industry System to a major player in the market.
“This launch customer is a leader in the quantum industry, building full-stack quantum computers and producing and developing their quantum chips in-house,” explains Garrelt Alberts, Managing Director at OrangeQS. “Traditionally, chips have been tested on full quantum computers. However, at a certain scale the complexity, effort and cost of doing this in the traditional way becomes prohibitively expensive and slow. Our customer is the first to pioneer a new paradigm, where quantum chip development is separated from the deployment of quantum computers. This allows them to test much faster, at much lower cost, and refocus a large part of their R&D team into other bottlenecks on their tech roadmap, effectively accelerating the development of their quality control and de-risking their tech roadmap.”
About Amber van Hauwermeiren
Amber moved from Belgium to the Netherlands in 2011 to study Aerospace Engineering at the TU Delft. He co-founded the automated coating company Qlayers BV in 2017, and the Aerospace Innovation Hub at the TU Delft in 2018. Therefore, he has significant experience in streamlining the set up of high-tech companies. In 2019 he moved to a position at TNO, where he analysed the market of quantum computing and has applied this insight to Orange Quantum Systems as Marketing & Branding Lead. In 2020 he delivered a crucial contribution to developing and launching the Quantum Inspire, Europe’s first publicly accessible quantum computer.