Japanese Quantum Computing Startup Has One Eye On The Future

The Japanese are good at most things. Now they’re starting to find their feet with the hardest of hard tech niches around

Annealing Software

Quantum computing (QC) is, year on year, growing at an exponential rate. In North America, Europe and Asia, the QC industry is in a healthy state. Notwithstanding the current crisis of the COVID-19 epidemic, it looks set to reach new heights in the next few years.

One of the countries which is doing very well is Japan. To date, there are over half a dozen startups in the space complementing what the big multinationals are already doing.

This is set to continue.

Toyko Quantum Computing joins the likes of Quantika and QunaSys in the Japanese QC startup ecosystem hoping to make developments in quantum hardware and software.

Founded in 2017 by Dr. Chiaki Yamaguchi, the startup is intent on constructing computer program source codes for simulations of quantum annealing.

Toyko Quantum Computing

According to the startup’s website, Yamaguchi and his team’s services specifically include:

A set of computer program source codes of a Monte Carlo algorithm for quantum annealing using the physically relevant continuous-imaginary-time limit

They go on to say ‘this is a set of computer program source codes for massive simulations of quantum annealing. This algorithm is used in arXiv:1706.06416. This algorithm can be useful for theoretically investigating the effectiveness of quantum annealing computing’.

Yamagachi’s educational credentials are impressive, too: he has a degree in physics from Tokai University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Tokyo Metropolitan University.

His publications include 15 peer-reviewed papers and one invited article.

Like other hard tech startups in Japan, we can be sure there will be no lack of effort.

Yet, if the startup is to expand, it will have to change its mindset from many other Japanese startups in tech for a number of reasons, though specifically pertinent in the QC industry:

 — Globally, Japanese tech startups and small companies are not that visible, this is especially the case if you don’t speak Japanese

 — They usually — though not always — focus on the home market, creating an ‘insularity shield’

 — Money is always king, meaning revenue takes a higher priority than about changing the world. This can be bad for startups in industries like QC where innovation can get you to where you want to be

 — There is an innate risk aversion policy, which can be a blockade to inspiring creativity

These are not criticisms, just observations from how it seems to be. And in an industry as new and as innovative as QC, the adoption of new trends and market volatility is a prerequisite for success.

In 1868, Japan entered the Meiji era, a time of unprecedented industrialization, openminded and internationalism within the country. It led, inevitable, to the rise of Japan as a military power which eventually defeated the Russian empire in the early years of the 20th Century and its ultimate defeat during the Second World War.

Yet out from those ashes, the Japanese phoenix rose anew and became one of the best designers and producers of high-tech goods in the world.

The country has a way of reinventing itself. I believe, like with electronic paraphernalia and automobiles, Japan can show the world what it can do for the QC landscape.

Photo by https://unsplash.com/@soloeddi