Rigetti to Continue Developing Quantum Computing Benchmarks Under DARPA Contract

Rigetti Computing has announced that it won a potential $1.5 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to develop benchmarks for large-scale quantum computing application performance.

Under the Phase 2 DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Program contract, Rigetti Computing will continue work done during the first phase, wherein the company and its partners were able to develop a resource estimation framework for a superconducting quantum computing system. Specifically, Rigetti will refine and optimize estimates for utility-scale problems.

Work under the Phase 2 contract will focus on including dynamical chemistry simulations and quantum system dynamics modeling and other fault-tolerant quantum applications research, Rigetti said.

The contract adds to several lines of effort within the U.S. government to advance quantum computing.

In mid-November, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory received Department of Defense funding to pursue quantum computing and deep learning technology development. The AFRL will use the funding to help AIM Photonics develop silicon photonic microchips that can receive quantum information and can be integrated into aerial platforms, thereby turning them into mobile quantum network nodes that can receive and send information between soldiers.

In August, the National Science Foundation announced $29 million in funding for 18 research teams working on quantum sensors.