Quantum computers have given a lot of hope to the world in terms of secure communication. Now, India too is getting in the competition to create secure and fast communications using quantum physics. Here are some of the companies in India working in the space of quantum computing.
1. QuNu Labs
QuNu Labs, stands for Quantum Light Labs is a Bengaluru-based startup that works on quantum data security. QuNu Labs is India’s first and only company working in the area of quantum cryptography. They primarily deal with Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which allows for the exchange of cryptographic key only between two people involved, with the help of encoded quantum bits, also called qubits. These exchange of these bits is governed by quantum physics and they are not hackable, helping to preserve the encryption between the two parties. The startup also plans to work in the sphere of QRNG, which is Quantum Random Number Generator, which deals with generating random numbers in hardware and has a huge role to play in quantum security. Apart from QKD and QRNG, it also plans to work in key management solutions, free space LiFi QKD and QKD for networks.
2. Automatski
An R&D company with locations in Los Angeles and Bengaluru performs research in multiple areas, quantum computing being one of them. Automatski was originally registered in London in 2014 and moved to India in 2016. Automatski works in circuit quantum computers, adiabatic quantum computers and annealing quantum computers. They perform research into several areas of quantum-inspired software to simulate various quantum computing configurations. These quantum computing configurations include circuit-based quantum computer simulator, adiabatic quantum computer simulator and an annealing quantum computer simulator. They believe that their technology will allow them to simulate configurations with very large qubit counts.
3. Entanglement Partners
Entanglement Partners is a consulting firm headquartered in Barcelona, Spain which provides consulting services in the space of quantum applications. It has resources in Kerala in India, apart from other locations of Madrid, San Jose and California. They also provide consulting services in the space of Events and Communications, Go-to-Market, Infrastructure, Strategic Consulting, and Venture Building.
4. IBM India
IBM is now the first company in the world to release the first-ever commercial quantum computer this year called IBM Q. The IBM Q, according to IBM, is accessed using Qisit, a modular, open-source programming framework A worldwide network of Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions and startups use IBM Q technology and collaborate with IBM Research to advance quantum computing. In an interview with Arvind Krishna, Senior Vice-President, Hybrid Cloud, and Director of IBM Research, he said, “When we put the quantum computer on the cloud, we thought a few thousand trials will happen from the subset and we’ll be done. But 5 million experiments have been done from nearly 100,000 users so far.”, while talking about India’s interest in the field, and India was among the top 5 countries in terms of usage.
5. DST
In late 2017, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) launched mission Quantum Science and Technology (QuST). DST wants to make a highly secure communication system and a general quantum computer that could replace the computer we know. It is learnt that the budget for the mission could be around ₹700 crore.
