Early Google Investor to Help Bring Quantum Computing to Markets
2015-08-26 12:31:24.814 GMT
By John Detrixhe
(Bloomberg) -- One of the original investors in Google Inc.
has turned his attention to quantum computing, a technology that
may unlock the secrets of the universe. Back on Earth, it could
revolutionize Wall Street.
The founder of private-equity company Grupo Arcano plans to
invest up to $50 million in Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd.,
according to a person familiar with the company’s funding who
declined to be identified, citing confidentiality. Quantum
computers may be able to solve problems that are impossible
using existing technology. They could transform modeling in
financial markets, and lead to massive improvements in
cryptography.
Santiago-based Grupo Arcano’s Alberto Chang-Rajii made his
wealth by buying a stake in Google in 1996. The private-equity
firm is also an investor in Snapchat Inc. and Uber Technologies
Inc.
Cambridge Quantum Computing is developing an operating
system -- think Windows 10 for a new generation of super
computers -- using a simulated processor in a Cambridge
laboratory. While it’s early days for such computers, their
proponents say they would revolutionize everything from finance
to medicine to space travel.
Quantum computers differ from the device you’re using to
read this story because they use qubits, which may have a value
of 1, 0 or both values simultaneously, rather than bits,
according to NASA’s website. A traditional bit, used in the
current generation of super computers as well as iPhones, must
have a value of 1 or 0. Quantum computers may, in theory, solve
some problems in a matter of days that would take millions of
years on a classical computer, NASA says.
Cambridge Quantum Computing was co-founded by Ilyas Khan,
leader in residence at the University of Cambridge’s Judge
Business School and chairman of The Stephen Hawking Foundation.
Chang-Rajii will join Cambridge Quantum Computing board as
deputy chairman, the person familiar said.
Other companies are already developing quantum computers.
D-Wave Systems Inc., founded in 1999, has built a
superconducting computer with a processor that is cooled close
to absolute zero, or -273.15 degrees Celsius, colder than outer
space. NASA is experimenting with the technology to understand
whether it may be used “to perform calculations that are
difficult or impossible using conventional supercomputers.”
Grupo Arcano was not immediately available for comment.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP
Top European News: TOP EUR
Market Structure News: NI MKST
To contact the reporter on this story:
John Detrixhe in London at +44-20-3525-9807 or
jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at +1-312-443-5942 or
nbaker7@bloomberg.net
Will Hadfield, Namitha Jagadeesh
2015-08-26 12:31:24.814 GMT
By John Detrixhe
(Bloomberg) -- One of the original investors in Google Inc.
has turned his attention to quantum computing, a technology that
may unlock the secrets of the universe. Back on Earth, it could
revolutionize Wall Street.
The founder of private-equity company Grupo Arcano plans to
invest up to $50 million in Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd.,
according to a person familiar with the company’s funding who
declined to be identified, citing confidentiality. Quantum
computers may be able to solve problems that are impossible
using existing technology. They could transform modeling in
financial markets, and lead to massive improvements in
cryptography.
Santiago-based Grupo Arcano’s Alberto Chang-Rajii made his
wealth by buying a stake in Google in 1996. The private-equity
firm is also an investor in Snapchat Inc. and Uber Technologies
Inc.
Cambridge Quantum Computing is developing an operating
system -- think Windows 10 for a new generation of super
computers -- using a simulated processor in a Cambridge
laboratory. While it’s early days for such computers, their
proponents say they would revolutionize everything from finance
to medicine to space travel.
Quantum computers differ from the device you’re using to
read this story because they use qubits, which may have a value
of 1, 0 or both values simultaneously, rather than bits,
according to NASA’s website. A traditional bit, used in the
current generation of super computers as well as iPhones, must
have a value of 1 or 0. Quantum computers may, in theory, solve
some problems in a matter of days that would take millions of
years on a classical computer, NASA says.
Cambridge Quantum Computing was co-founded by Ilyas Khan,
leader in residence at the University of Cambridge’s Judge
Business School and chairman of The Stephen Hawking Foundation.
Chang-Rajii will join Cambridge Quantum Computing board as
deputy chairman, the person familiar said.
Other companies are already developing quantum computers.
D-Wave Systems Inc., founded in 1999, has built a
superconducting computer with a processor that is cooled close
to absolute zero, or -273.15 degrees Celsius, colder than outer
space. NASA is experimenting with the technology to understand
whether it may be used “to perform calculations that are
difficult or impossible using conventional supercomputers.”
Grupo Arcano was not immediately available for comment.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP
Top European News: TOP EUR
Market Structure News: NI MKST
To contact the reporter on this story:
John Detrixhe in London at +44-20-3525-9807 or
jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Nick Baker at +1-312-443-5942 or
nbaker7@bloomberg.net
Will Hadfield, Namitha Jagadeesh