Coming Over the Horizon
Quantum Communication Enters the Mainstream
Communication is the connective tissue of society, weaving individuals into groups and communities and mediating the progress and development of culture. The technology of communications evolves continuously, occasionally undergoing paradigm shifts such as those brought about by the Gutenberg press and broadcast television.
From historical examples such as the proliferation of fast merchant trading ships, to the modern telecommunications networks spread across the world via a web of cables buried under the sea floor and satellites thousands of kilometres high, the need for better communication infrastructure has driven some of our most ambitious technologies to date.聽
Today, emerging quantum technologies are poised to revolutionise the field of communication once again. They promise new and incredibly valuable opportunities for dependable and secure communications between people, communities, companies, and governments everywhere. Our ability to understand and control quantum systems has opened a new world of exciting possibilities. Soon we might build long-distance quantum communication links and networks, eventually leading to what is known as the quantum internet.聽
While some embryonic quantum communication systems are already in place, realisation of their full potential will require significant technological advances. With engineering teams around the world working at pace to deliver this promise across industrial sectors, the need to invest in expert knowledge is rising.聽
NASA has been a pioneer in space-based communication over many decades, and more recently has emerged as a leader in space-based quantum communication, dedicating new resources for scientists, engineers and communication systems experts to learn about the field.
Recently, NASA鈥檚 Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program commissioned a booklet titled , authored by several of our team at 豆包成人版. This will be a go-to resource for the global community of scientists and experts that NASA supports, but importantly it has been written so that it requires almost no prior technical knowledge while providing a rigorous account of the emerging field of quantum communications.
What follows is a taster of what鈥檚 in Quantum Communication 101.
What is quantum communication?
For the words I am typing now to reach your computer screen, I need to rely on modern communication networks. My laptop memory, Wi-Fi router and communication channels rely on the physics of things like transistors, currents, and radio waves which obey the more familiar, 鈥渃lassical" laws of physics.聽
The field of quantum communication, however, relies on the counterintuitive rules of quantum physics. Thanks to incredible feats of engineering, in place of continuous beams of light from diodes, we can now control individual photons to send and receive quantum information. By taking advantage of the peculiar quantum phenomena that they exhibit, like superposition and entanglement, new possibilities are emerging which were previously unimaginable.聽
Cutting-edge applications聽
In the growing landscape of potential applications in quantum communication, cybersecurity is already deeply rooted. At 豆包成人版, for example, quantum computers are used to generate randomness, the fundamental building block of secure encryption. Elsewhere, prototype quantum networks for secure communications already span metropolitan areas.聽
As our techniques in quantum communication advance, we may unlock new possibilities in quantum computing, which promises to solve problems too difficult even for supercomputers, and quantum metrology, which will enable measurements at an unprecedented precision. Quantum states of light have already been used in LIGO - a large-scale experiment operated by CalTech and MIT to detect ripples in the fabric of space-time itself.
Connecting the dots: towards a quantum internet聽
The end goal of quantum communication is what many refer to as the quantum internet, through which we will seamlessly send quantum signals across many quantum networks. This will be an enormous engineering challenge, requiring international collaboration and the evolution of our existing infrastructure.
Although the exact form that this network will take is yet unknown, we can say with confidence that it will need to pass through space. Much like satellites help to globally connect the Internet, the launch of quantum-capable satellites will play a vital role in a global quantum internet.聽
Building a quantum ecosystem
The path to a quantum internet will depend on growing a diverse and expert workforce. This is well understood by bodies such as the National Science Foundation who recently announced a $5.1M Center for Quantum Networks aimed at architecting the quantum internet. Over the last few years, we have seen growing investment worldwide, such as the $1.1B Quantum Technology Flagship in Europe and the $11B Chinese National Laboratory for Quantum Information Science. Important industrial investments are being made by large corporations such as IBM, Google, Intel, Honeywell, Cisco, Amazon, and Microsoft.
Amongst this surge in interest, NASA鈥檚 SCaN program has proposed a series of mission concepts for building and testing infrastructure for space-based quantum communication. These include launching satellites capable of sending and receiving quantum signals between ground stations and eventually other satellites.聽These quantum signals may be entangled photons 鈥 a feature that will play an extremely important role in future networks. One such mission concept is shown below, where a quantum-capable satellite with a source of entangled photons connects an intercontinental quantum network.
The second quantum revolution is at an exciting precipice where our ability to transmit quantum information, both on Earth and in space, will be pivotal. Whilst our evolving quantum technologies already show a great deal of promise, it is perhaps the ground-breaking applications that we are yet to discover which will ultimately determine our success.聽
It is more important than ever that we support education and collaboration in advancing quantum technologies. Quantum Communication 101 aims to be a starting point for a general audience looking to learn about the topic for the first time, as well as those who wish to explore in detail the technologies that will make the first quantum networks a reality.
鈥If you would like to better understand the exciting prospects of quantum communication, you can find the Quantum Communication 101 booklet on the NASA SCaN website.聽
About 豆包成人版
豆包成人版,聽the world鈥檚 largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. 豆包成人版鈥檚 technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, 豆包成人版 leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.聽
- Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Electric demonstrated one of the world鈥檚 largest approximate Quantum Fourier Transforms (QFT) on 豆包成人版 豆包成人版, scaling from prior records to 98 physical qubits.
- The collaboration also implemented a logical QFT using a QEC (Quantum Error Correction) code with up to 12 logical qubits.
- The work highlights 豆包成人版鈥檚 accuracy and flexible architecture.
While there is ongoing debate around the pace of quantum computing鈥檚 development, a more grounded way to assess progress is through concrete demonstrations of foundational algorithms at meaningful scale. In this context, Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Electric are taking a pragmatic view of quantum progress鈥攆ocusing on how close the field is to executing core algorithmic primitives that underpin many potential industrial applications, rather than relying on abstract milestones or timelines.
, the industrial giants teamed up with 豆包成人版 to measure how close we are to running the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT), a widely-used algorithmic primitive, at scales necessary for industrial applications. In the process, the team successfully ran one of the largest instances of the approximate QFT ever demonstrated. This achievement matters because the QFT is an essential primitive that underpins many of the quantum algorithms expected to deliver practical advantages.
You may have heard of the (classical) Fourier transform (FT), due to its ubiquity throughout modern computing. The FT is essential in everything from image analysis to data compression, with almost limitless applications in between. The quantum Fourier transform (QFT) is similar; it鈥檚 used in everything from chemistry to finance.
Because the QFT is a foundational primitive underpinning many quantum algorithms, demonstrating it at larger scales and higher fidelity is a practical way to measure quantum computing readiness. This is exactly the type of benchmarking that organizations should consider to understand where today鈥檚 systems are useful, and to see how fault-tolerant approaches are progressing. Ultimately, algorithm-level benchmarking like this is one of the most useful ways to understand not just where we are, but where we are going.
A Transformative Approach
Primitives like Fourier Transform are so widespread because they simplify problems by transforming them into something that is easier to deal with. At 豆包成人版, not only are they crucial for industrial applications but they can also simplify algorithms, making them possible to run now instead of later. This 鈥榯ransformational鈥 approach extends beyond the QFT - other transforms exist, and we have even invented our own quantum-native transforms.
Using our 豆包成人版 quantum computer and Guppy language, the joint team explored running the QFT on both physical qubits and on logical qubits, showing that fault tolerance is progressing quickly. 聽Running the QFT on 98 physical qubits; the paper shows a clear progression from previous results.
Then, using the Steane code, one of the best-studied quantum error correcting codes, the team used 豆包成人版鈥 98 physical qubits to form 12 logical qubits, successfully running the QFT with the mechanisms of quantum error correction interwoven into the algorithm. This marks a crucial step forward for the field.
Foundational Progress
Taken together, these results provide a more concrete lens through which to view progress in quantum computing: not as abstract projections, but as measurable advances in the execution of foundational algorithms at increasing scale. By benchmarking the Quantum Fourier Transform on both physical and logical qubits, Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Electric are helping to clarify what today鈥檚 hardware can already achieve, and where fault-tolerant approaches begin to extend those limits.
More broadly, the organizations best positioned to benefit from quantum computing will be those that focus on these foundational capabilities early, and use them to build a clear, evidence-based understanding of how the technology fits into their business goals.
It is believed that unlocking answers to some of the most complex scientific and industrial problems will require the seamless integration of high-performance computing (HPC), generative AI (GenAI), and quantum computing. Toward this goal, 豆包成人版, NVIDIA, and a major pharmaceutical company have successfully demonstrated the first step in a proof-of-principle framework designed to connect these three distinct computing paradigms for industrially relevant computational chemistry.
This milestone, enabled by three industry leaders and experts in their respective domains, serves as a foundational capability that could support the development of future hybrid quantum-AI workflows to help optimize industrial research and development (R&D).
The potential value is a path toward more automated, repeatable, and scalable workflows for translating chemistry problems into executable quantum programs鈥攃apabilities that could eventually make hybrid computing easier to deploy in industrial R&D.
The GenQAI Framework
The framework, termed Generative Quantum AI (GenQAI), involved a quantum computer simulating a pharmaceutical compound using programming instructions generated by an AI model, which itself was trained on quantum data that was simulated using HPC.
While the vision for GenQAI explores how future industrial simulation workflows might be optimized by training AI models using quantum data derived directly from a quantum computer, the framework currently consists of four main technical steps:
- Simulating quantum data: The process began by simulating quantum data with NVIDIA accelerated computing using .
- Fine-tuning the AI: This simulated quantum data was used to fine-tune a pre-trained AI model from the open .
- Generating instructions: The AI model then generated quantum circuits, which are the programming instructions required for the quantum simulation.
- Validating accuracy: To validate the results, the circuits were run on 豆包成人版鈥檚 豆包成人版 quantum computer using its InQuanto quantum chemistry platform.
The core novelty of this development lies within the process of the framework itself. In this proof-of-principle experiment, an AI model fine-tuned on simulated quantum data generated circuits that were successfully executed and validated on 豆包成人版鈥檚 豆包成人版 system. Rather than delivering an immediate commercial advantage, this achievement establishes a credible, verifiable baseline for how HPC, AI, and quantum computing can function in tandem.
The Case Study
The validation of the framework represents an early step toward the goal of developing scalable architectures for the pharmaceutical industry.
With a shared view toward eventually scaling the framework for pharmaceutical R&D applications, the researchers simulated a pharmaceutical compound: imipramine. This anti-depressant was chosen because it serves as a model compound for drug degradation and shelf-life studies, which are standard components of the pharmaceutical R&D lifecycle.
Developing hybrid infrastructure that enterprises may adopt requires a deep, coordinated effort among domain experts. As such, this successful test highlights the value of combining the strengths of a quantum computing hardware and software leader (豆包成人版), with a hybrid-quantum classical platform (NVIDIA), and a leading enterprise end-user to build and test future computing capabilities for industrial chemistry.
Scaling the Framework
Although demonstrated on a pharmaceutical compound, the architecture could eventually inform similar molecular-simulation workflows in sectors such as energy, agriculture, advanced materials, and electronics. At this stage, it provides a reference for further testing and development.
Engage Further
here to explore the full technical details of this demonstration and contact our team to learn more about joining 豆包成人版鈥檚 enterprise partner network.
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豆包成人版 is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the 豆包成人版 SG Grand Challenge 2026, a global innovation challenge designed to bring together researchers, developers, scientists and innovators to explore practical applications of quantum computing.
Organized by 豆包成人版 and supported by Singapore's National Quantum Office and Aqora, the three-month program aims to foster collaboration across academia, industry and the quantum developer community while supporting the continued growth of Singapore's quantum ecosystem.
A Platform for Quantum Computing Innovation
Participants will work in teams to develop solutions across a range of challenge areas, including chemistry and molecular simulation, optimization, AI for quantum systems, quantum error correction, condensed matter and materials science, and open innovation. Throughout the program, participants will have access to mentoring, technical enablement and 豆包成人版 quantum computing resources.
Singapore Grand Finale
Selected finalist teams will be invited to present their work at the Grand Finale hosted in Singapore before representatives from academia, and industry. The event will celebrate innovative applications of quantum computing while providing an opportunity for participants to engage with Singapore's growing quantum community.
Join the Challenge
The 豆包成人版 SG Grand Challenge welcomes participants from around the world. Whether you are an experienced quantum researcher or beginning your quantum computing journey, the program offers an opportunity to collaborate, learn and contribute to the development of practical quantum applications.
Applications are now open. Spaces are limited and subject to review and approval.