LONDON and OXFORD, England, April 16, 2024 — Rigetti UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rigetti Computing, Inc., and Oxford Instruments NanoScience, a leading provider of cryogenic systems, announced that their three-year project to build and operate one of the first quantum computers in the UK has been successfully completed.

The consortium also included the Quantum Software Lab at the University of Edinburgh, Phasecraft, and Standard Chartered Bank. The goal of the Rigetti-led £10 million consortium was to accelerate the commercialization of quantum computing in the UK:

1. Through the delivery of a quantum computer in the UK.
2. By advancing practical applications in machine learning, materials simulation, and finance.
3. By furthering the development of the UK’s quantum computing talent, infrastructure, and national supply chain.

The consortium was backed by funding from the UK government’s Quantum Technologies Challenge, led by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).

The 32-qubit Aspen-class quantum computer was Rigetti’s first system deployed in the UK and was made available over the cloud to the Company’s UK partners via Rigetti’s Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) cloud computing platform to pursue quantum application and algorithm development. The Quantum Software Lab worked to develop new ways of testing quantum hardware and verifying the performance of quantum programs, and worked with Standard Chartered Bank to advance quantum machine learning applications for finance. Phasecraft used its deep knowledge of quantum algorithms and high-efficiency quantum software to harness the system for near-term applications in materials design and simulation.

The system was hosted at Oxford Instruments’ Tubney Woods facility using Oxford Instruments’ ProteoxLX dilution refrigerator, and was supported by Oxford Instruments’ state-of-the-art infrastructure and expert cryogenics support. Smooth and seamless infrastructure was essential so that the consortium partners could run algorithms without interruption via QCS. Backup power and resilient cooling systems in highly controlled temperature and humidity environments guaranteed high uptime of the quantum system.

Further developing its UK quantum computing capabilities, Rigetti recently announced that it won a UKRI Competition to deliver a 24-qubit quantum computing system to the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) based on the Company’s latest Ankaa-class chip architecture.

Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO, said, “Completing this project, with the end result being a useful 32-qubit quantum computer, is an exceptional achievement for all of the project partners. It takes a world-class team to build and deploy a quantum computer. The UK has become a world leader in quantum computing technologies, and we are excited to continue to contribute to its quantum computing capabilities. Additionally, Rigetti plans to leverage this experience to continue to develop our UK quantum computing leadership as we embark on deploying a 24-qubit Ankaa-class quantum computer at the NQCC’s Harwell campus.”

Matt Martin, Managing Director at Oxford Instruments NanoScience, said, “It has been an honor to collaborate with our longstanding partner Rigetti on this project, which brought the company’s first UK-based quantum computer. The project was planned from the beginning to align with national strategic initiatives and is a fantastic step towards the commercial adoption of quantum computing in the UK. Our team learned a huge amount from this project, rising to every challenge. We have comfortably demonstrated both the reliability of the ProteoxLX and the proficiency of our service team.”

In addition to showcasing Rigetti’s ability to successfully deploy a quantum computer in the UK, the research conducted during this project also resulted in subsequent quantum application development work. In January 2024, Rigetti announced that it was awarded an Innovate UK grant as part of the Feasibility Studies in Quantum Computing Applications competition with Standard Chartered, Imperial College London, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Roger McKinlay, Challenge Director, Quantum Technologies, in Innovate UK said: “This project was launched with a vision of the UK being the go-to place for those striving to turn quantum research into quantum business. My thanks to this outstanding team of ‘quantrepreneurs’ – led by Rigetti UK Limited – who have made the vision a reality.”

About Rigetti

Rigetti is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. The Company has operated quantum computers over the cloud since 2017 and serves global enterprise, government, and research clients through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform. The Company’s proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides high performance integration with public and private clouds for practical quantum computing. Rigetti has developed the industry’s first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. The Company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility.

About Oxford Instruments NanoScience

Oxford Instruments NanoScience designs, supplies and supports market-leading research tools that enable quantum technologies, new materials and device development in the physical sciences. Our tools support research down to the atomic scale through creation of high performance, cryogen-free low temperature and magnetic environments, based upon our core technologies in low and ultra-low temperatures, high magnetic fields and system integration, with ever-increasing levels of experimental and measurement readiness. Oxford Instruments NanoScience is a part of the Oxford Instruments plc group.

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Source: Rigetti