The Israeli startup Clasiq wants to enable the development of quantum algorithms. In a legit interview, the company’s CEO, Nir Minervi, explains how to develop a computer that does not exist and why the Israeli quantum computer project is really not enough.
Photo: Classiq
We’ve heard a lot in recent years about the vague promise and insane potential of quantum computing. But apart from the hardware – no small challenge on the way to this promised revolution is actually in the software that will run them. This is where the Israeli startup company Classiq comes into the picture, claiming that it can do for the quantum computer what Microsoft has done for the operating systems and PC market.
How to develop applications for non-existent computers?
Clasiq is developing a platform that will allow the development of quantum algorithms in a new way. This is the first company to develop the essential tools for the automatic translation of human ideas into quantum circuits and to provide the basic elements required for the creation of quantum algorithms. ‘Today, quantum software development is limited to the level of logical gates. The software developer needs to know exactly which gates to apply to which qubit, and this is a reasonable task for individual qubits, very difficult for dozens of qubits, and impossible for hundreds, thousands and millions of qubits. It’s just a design problem that is too difficult, “explains Nir Minervi, CEO of Classic.
“Classic builds a modeling language for quantum circuits (ie – quantum software) and the synthesis tool that produces the complex circuit, which can be run on any quantum hardware,” says Minervi. In practice, hardware modeling languages like VHDL and synthesis tools like Cadence and Synopsys actually allow the same functional model conversions, into a complex circuit at the gate level. ‘In quantum computing, the gates are the software, not the hardware. Therefore the company that will truly be the cadence of quantum computing, will also be the Microsoft of quantum computing. That’s where we go, ‘he explains.
And how do you actually run those apps on computers that you still can’t get your hands on?
Minervi: “The Classic platform makes it possible to develop software for quantum computers of various types, and users can run it with the click of a button on the quantum cloud of different companies – Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, etc. Today, these computers are on a scale of dozens of qubits, and you can run software of this size on them and make sure you know how to do a scale נוסף Another aspect we are working on is the explanability of quantum circuits and debugging capability. That is, to allow the developer to analyze the software he has developed, to talk about it, and to make sure that it is scalable. “
On the Israeli quantum computer program: “It misses the mark”
Photo: Classiq
The year 2021 became a key year for the quantum computing revolution among other things with the launch of quantum computers of over 100 qubits. The entry of Amazon and NVIDIA into the field is also very encouraging. This week it was also reported that Mapat will build the State of Israel’s first quantum computer with a budget of about NIS 200 million. But Minervi, insofar as he thinks this project is of “paramount importance and an opportunity the state must not miss,” warns that it is an arms race in which we have been left behind.
“NIS 200 million is not a sufficient budget to build a quantum computer with millions of error-corrected cubits. It’s easy to look at the budget cynically and say it’s the quarterly budget of the big hardware companies. However, it misses the mark, “he says. “The goal of the national program is to place Israel in the right place, with a strong industrial ecosystem, a national knowledge base and a leading position in certain areas. Behind the scenes there are leading organizations in the country, in industry and in academia, which have been sharpening their swords for a year and are ready to build a blue and white computer here. It’s time to dump her and move on.
Classiq was founded in 2020 by Nir Minervi, Dr. Yehuda Naveh (CTO) and Amir Naveh (VP R&D). The company currently employs about 30 people in Tel Aviv and the United States. Minervi explains that the team includes a number of Talpiot graduates, senior software engineers as well as quantum software experts. Classic’s platform currently operates at the Japanese NTT, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and also “some of the world’s leading financial institutions”.
Today (Thursday) the company announces the completion of a $ 33 million B round of funding led by HPE, Phoenix, Spike Ventures and Samsung Next. Those who also participated in the round are the former CEO of Cadence and the former CEO of Synopsys, along with Team8, Wing Capital, Entree and OurCrowd. Since its inception, the company has raised about $ 48 million.
A good old age
Born with a joystick in hand. He has far too many gadgets and far too little free time to play with them all. An unexplained hammer holder for calibrating device batteries. When he’s not busy writing about technology, he likes to talk about it, and a lot
