Tokyo, Japan (July 2, 2019) - Sigma-i Co., Ltd., a company formed to optimize the world with quantum computing technologies, and D-Wave Systems Inc., the leader in quantum computing systems, software and services, today announced the companies have signed the largest-ever global quantum cloud contract. Sigma-i will offer quantum consulting services and access to the D-Wave 2000Q™ family of systems via D-Wave’s quantum cloud service, Leap™, to companies, universities and research laboratories throughout Japan.
Customers will benefit from Sigma-i’s expertise in working with D-Wave’s quantum annealer[1]. Sigma-i’s services will incorporate best practices and application development methodologies, accelerating quantum technologies focused on manufacturing applications. This milestone contract will allow for both expansion of real-world quantum application development and further investigation, publication, and research and development.
“With this announcement, Japanese researchers and forward-thinking businesses can now benefit from the combination of Sigma-i’s deep quantum expertise and D-Wave’s powerful quantum systems to further quantum computing throughout Japan,” said Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave. “This contract signals the ongoing growth of our cloud business and the increasing interest in quantum computing world-wide.”
"In Japan, many companies look forward to the real-world applications that quantum computing can and will bring," said Masayuki Ohzeki, CEO of Sigma-i. "This contract couples our quantum expertise with D-Wave's powerful quantum computing systems, bridging the gap between industry and academia, and ushering in a new era of quantum computing in Japan."
About Sigma-i, Co., Ltd.
Sigma-i, Co., Ltd. is an “academic tech company,” which was established by Prof. Masayuki Ohzeki, Kentaro Ise and Dr. Masamichi Miyama, Tohoku University Quantum Annealing Research & Development, with the full support of SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SPARX; TSE1: 8739). Its mission is to tangibly deliver brand new technologies after they have been developed within universities and/or research laboratories.
About D-Wave Systems Inc.
D-Wave is the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services and is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Our mission is to unlock the power of quantum computing for the world. We do this by delivering customer value with practical quantum applications for problems as diverse as logistics, artificial intelligence, materials sciences, drug discovery, cyber security, fault detection and financial modeling. D-Wave’s systems are being used by some of the world’s most advanced organizations, including Volkswagen, DENSO, Lockheed Martin, USRA (sponsored by NASA and Google), USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With headquarters near Vancouver, Canada, D-Wave’s US operations are based in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave has a blue-chip investor base including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, DFJ, In-Q-Tel, BDC Capital, PenderFund Capital, 180 Degree Capital Corp., and Kensington Capital Partners Limited. For more information, visit: www.dwavesys.comand http://dwavejapan.com/resources/.
Contact:
Sigma-i, Co., Ltd.: info@sigmailab.com
Seto, PR of SPARX Group Co., Ltd.: pr_media@sparxgroup.com
D-Wave: LaunchSquad:dwave@launchsquad.com
[1]Quantum annealing is one type of quantum computing technology. The system finds solutions to complicated problems called combinatorial optimization problems, first identified by Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimori, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, and his student Dr. Tadashi Kadowaki of Denso Corporation. D-Wave’s quantum systems were inspired by Drs. Nishimori and Kadowaki’s research, and in 2010, the company sold the first commercially available quantum computer to Lockheed Martin. Outside Japan, the Canadian company’s systems are being used by many of the world’s most advanced research laboratories and private sector enterprises, including USRA (sponsored by NASA and Google), Volkswagen, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.