Quantum News and Commentary | Friday, July 18, 2025
Quantum utility: what does it mean in practice? Quantum activity across most topic areas - can't we break for summer vacation?
Today’s Brief Commentary:
I’m going out on a limb here and define “quantum utility” as “still not practical at scale for problems we care about, but seemingly going in the right direction.” I genuinely dislike its other manifestations as a marketing term, which somehow implies that we will achieve quantum advantage imminently. It fills in the gap between “useless” and “useful,” though is murky. Is running half a race "victory utility"?
Lest IBM thinks I am picking on them, the Spotlight link today is to a Moderna and IBM use case involving the transfer of the quantum finance algorithm Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) to the “mRNA secondary structure prediction problem.” Note, however, that this is a NISQ approach, so its future use when we have fault tolerance at scale is not guaranteed.
Here’s a scorecard of the topic areas covered today:
✓ startup funding (Qubitcore and Commutator Studios GmbH)
✗ startup exits
✓ earnings reports, scheduled or completed (IonQ)
✓ company partnerships (Oxford Ionics, Iceberg Quantum)
✓ regional or national sovereign programs (Denmark, Nordics)
✓ quantum computing applications (IBM, Moderna)
✗ new or updated roadmaps
✗ quantum communications
✓ quantum networking (Qubitcore, Rigetti Computing)
✓ quantum sensing (Q-CTRL)
In the Spotlight
Advancing the science of life-saving medications
https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/moderna
Date: Thursday, July 17, 2025
Companies Mentioned: IBM, Moderna
Excerpt: The company [Moderna] has used mRNA technology to instruct cells to produce proteins that could help prevent or treat diseases that were previously considered untreatable.
While classical computers are powerful tools in the development of mRNA, they have limitations when tackling computationally intensive problems. Quantum computing offers a promising new approach to these challenges, complementing classical methods where current algorithms reach their limits.
Financial Dealings and Earnings Announcements
Qubitcore™, an OIST Spin‑Out, Raises Pre‑Seed Funding to Advance Japan’s Ion‑Trap Quantum Computers
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Companies Mentioned: Qubitcore Inc.
Excerpt: Qubitcore’s distributed architecture overcomes the scalability limitations of conventional quantum processing units (QPUs—the processors that perform quantum calculations) by combining ion-trap modules integrated with optical cavities (resonant structures that trap light to enable efficient ion–photon interaction) and a photonic interconnect network. This enables high-speed, high-fidelity remote entanglement between modules—offering a breakthrough toward scalable distributed quantum computing.
IonQ to Report Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results on August 6, 2025
https://ionq.com/news/ionq-to-report-second-quarter-2025-financial-results-on-august-6-2025
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Companies Mentioned: IonQ
Excerpt: IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leading commercial quantum computing and networking company, today announced that the company will release its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, after the financial markets close.
Commutator Studios GmbH Secures Funding for Innovative Quantum Technology
https://www.commutatorstudios.com/post/press-release-2025-07
Date: Thursday, July 17, 2025
Companies Mentioned: Commutator Studios GmbH, IQM Quantum Computers Oy
Excerpt: Commutator Studios GmbH today announces the successful completion of a €1.5 million funding round. The round was led by Backtrace Capital, a Munich-based investment firm focused on sovereign technology infrastructure and Preston-Werner Ventures—a renowned U.S. venture fund led by GitHub cofounder Tom Preston-Werner. They are joined by HBG, and Dr. Jan Goetz, CEO and cofounder of IQM Quantum Computers and a leading expert in the quantum technology space.
Partnerships
Oxford Ionics and Iceberg Quantum working together as part of Oxford Ionics' participation in Stage A of DARPA's QBI
https://www.oxionics.com/announcements/oxford-ionics-and-iceberg-quantum-partner
Date: Thursday, July 17, 2025
Companies Mentioned: Iceberg Quantum, Oxford Ionics
Excerpt: Based in Sydney Australia, Iceberg Quantum is at the forefront of qLDPC code development. Its advancements in qLDPC-based architectures are accelerating the route to high-value applications for quantum computing, whilst requiring considerably less hardware overhead. Notably, members of Iceberg Quantum pioneered the first general-purpose methods for performing targeted, universal logic gates with qLDPC codes, which was the critical theoretical advancement that enables practical computation with these codes.
Oxford Ionics is the ideal candidate for qLDPC codes, owing to its all-to-all connectivity and record-breaking fidelities. The company currently has the lowest error rates of any quantum computing platform on the market, with the world records in all three of the key fidelity metrics: single-qubit gate fidelity, two-qubit gate fidelity, and quantum state preparation and measurement (SPAM). As part of Oxford Ionics’ participation in Stage A of the United States’ DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, the two companies have been working together on a design of fault-tolerant quantum architecture that combines Oxford Ionics’ leading trapped-ion technology with Iceberg Quantum’s qLDPC codes.
Quantum Sensing and Timing
Q-CTRL's New Maritime Quantum Navigation Solution Successfully Undergoes First Defense Trials at Sea
Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Companies Mentioned: Q-CTRL
Commentary: They ran it for a long time and collected data. What was the relative quality of the results compared to older solutions?
Excerpt: Q-CTRL, the global leader in quantum infrastructure software, today unveiled groundbreaking advancements in software-ruggedized quantum sensing for navigation in a major field trial with Australian Defence on board the Royal Australian Navy’s Multi-role Aviation Training Vessel (MATV), MV Sycamore. The results of this major maritime trial reinforce Q-CTRL’s leadership in the development and deployment of quantum-assured navigation solutions, now expanding into maritime operations.
Sovereign Initiatives
Denmark's Special Quantum Fabrication Facility: Advancing the Future of Computing
Date: Monday, March 17, 2025
Excerpt: Denmark is making a bold move in the global quantum computing race with the establishment of Quantum Foundry P/S, a state-of-the-art fabrication facility designed to drive research and development in quantum technologies. As part of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme, this facility is set to play a crucial role in realising the vision of a fault-tolerant quantum computer within the next 10 to 12 years.
EIFO and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Acquire the World's Most Powerful Quantum Computer
Date: Thursday, July 17, 2025
Companies Mentioned: Atom Computing, Microsoft
Commentary: There is a verb tense problem in the headline since the machine has not yet been built and is expected in 2026-27. The original Danish investment in Atom occurred right before the company switched CEOs.
Excerpt: Construction of Magne will begin in autumn 2025, and the computer is expected to be ready for its first tasks by the new year 2026/27. The selection of Microsoft and Atom Computing in making Magne possible is the result of a thorough evaluation of various quantum platform's current technological strengths and benefits, as well as the solution's overall contribution to the Nordic quantum ecosystem, including access for researchers to the physical hardware.
Magne will be 100% Danish-owned, with EIFO and the Novo Nordisk Foundation each investing approximately €40 million in the establishment of QuNorth. Search for a CEO for the new company will now begin, and QuNorth plans to build a small organization of around 10 employees, whose primary task will be to ensure optimal utilization of Magne across commercial and academic users in the Nordic region. In addition, QuNorth will establish four PhD/postdoc roles in collaboration with Microsoft.
Sutor Group Market Landscape Reports
The latest Sutor Group Intelligence Reports on quantum processing units and quantum software are now available.
Each report includes a taxonomy of quantum computing hardware and software, company data, geographic distribution, investors, recent news, years founded, and a glossary. The geographic charts provide a breakdown by country, 8 world region designators, and breakdowns by U.S. states, Canadian provinces, French regions, German states, and UK cities.
SGIA-QPML-20250708 Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) Market Landscape
We examine the companies worldwide now building processors, their implementation modalities, and their programming model paradigms. If published by the vendors, we provide links to their product road maps.
By the Numbers: 83 companies, 21 countries, 10 modalities, 3 paradigms, 364 investors and funders, and 17 pages of links to recent news by vendor.
SGIA-SWML-20250708 Quantum Computing Software Market Landscape
We examine the vendors and service providers worldwide now developing quantum computing software, including applications, for use by their customers or themselves.
By the Numbers: 126 companies, 24 countries, 19 types of software, 16 software application types, 513 investors and funders, and 23 pages of links to recent news by vendor.
Contact us for report sample pages, further details, report briefings, or consulting and advisory services.
Don't forget to check out and bookmark our sortable list of upcoming quantum technology conferences.
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Dr. Bob Sutor is the CEO and Founder of Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory. Sutor Group offers comprehensive market insights and in-depth technical expertise, drawing on over four decades of experience working with startups and large corporations. It advises Deep Tech startups, companies, and investors on quantum technologies, AI, and other emerging tech fields.
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Previous Newsletter Edition
Quantum News and Commentary | Wednesday, July 16, 2025: LinkedIn, Substack, Sutor Group website