In this episode, hosts Frank La Vigne and Candace Gillhoolley are joined by Nir Alfasi, the general manager of the Israeli Quantum Computing Center. Nir brings us insights straight from the forefront of quantum innovation—complete with a functioning quantum fridge in the background for that extra authentic touch.

Together, the team dives deep into Israel’s rapidly evolving quantum scene, the role of quantum data centers, and why quantum innovation is blossoming far beyond the traditional tech hubs of Silicon Valley. Nir unpacks how the Israeli Quantum Computing Center is helping startups and researchers worldwide accelerate their breakthroughs, from providing a cryogenic test bed for hardware innovation to fostering quantum workforce development. He shares why collaboration is key, what makes a functional quantum ecosystem, and the importance of making quantum resources accessible to a global community—not just PhDs!

If you’re curious about the present and future of quantum computing, the emerging ecosystems supporting it, and how quantum might just change not only how we compute but where the world’s tech epicenters will be, this conversation is a must-listen. So grab your coffee—or your cryogenic coolant—get ready to geek out, and let’s embark on our quantum journey!

Timestamps

00:00 "Exploring Israel's Quantum Future"

04:10 Emerging Computing Paradigm Growth

08:46 Israeli Quantum Computing Center Launch

11:36 IQCC's Quantum Startup Support

15:45 Preparing for Quantum Technology Demands

16:47 "Bottleneck Opportunities in Quantum Computing"

22:52 Building a New Tech Ecosystem

25:26 "Diverse Technologies' Coexistence Potential"

27:01 Israel's Quiet Approach to Quantum Computing

30:10 "Building a Quantum-Ready Workforce"

36:03 Hybrid Quantum-Classical Computing Approach

36:50 "Hybrid Quantum-Classical Computing Integration"

40:08 Quantum Computers for Cloud Computing

44:27 "Future Progress and Storytelling"

47:25 "Quantum Conundrum: Stay Entangled"

Welcome back to Impact Quantum, the podcast where we decode the

quantum future one entangled conversation at a

time. I'm your virtual MC Bailey. In this

episode, Frank is joined as always by the queen of quantum

curiosity herself, Candice Gilhooly.

Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Nia Alfasi,

general manager of the Israeli Quantum Computing Center.

Niz coming to us quite literally from the cutting edge of quantum innovation

with a real functioning quantum fridge behind him to

prove it. We'll dive into Israel's burgeoning quantum

scene, the role of quantum data centers, and why the

future of computing is less Silicon Valley and more global

village. Grab your coffee or your cryogenic coolant, and

let's get started.

Hello, and welcome back to Impact Quantum, the podcast where we explore the

emergent fields of quantum computing and focus on

what that ecosystem is going to look like and how to

best position yourself today, for the quantum future and how

to be quantum curious. Along with me on this journey, is

the most quantum curious person I know, Candice Kahuli. How's

it going, Candice? It's going great. Thank you very much. I just

wanna mention that on the April 8, I woke up

to snow. Wow. I just have to put it out there. I do. We had

a frost warning. So Okay. I guess I can't complain too

much. But where our guest is,

it's 30 degrees Celsius, which is about 86 degrees

Fahrenheit ish. So warm and toasty,

I suppose. And, he is the general

manager of the Israeli quantum computing sensor,

Nir Afalsi. How's it going, Nir? It's great.

Going great. Thanks for having me, Frank and Candace. So for those

watching the thank you. Thank you. For those of you watching the video, he that

actually is a quantum computer over his right shoulder.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So Get jealous. Get

jealous. That's so cool. He had he had a great

background on today already, and then we asked him to drop the

kimono and show us where where he really was and what we could see

and and And that's even cooler, honestly. So cool. So cool. Yeah.

I'm geeking out a little bit yesterday. And it literally is cool. Right? You know,

because, you know, close to absolute zero. Badump. Boom. Yep.

So one of the things that we've been talking

about, recently is data centers

and how well, two things. Like, one, the 2025,

it's April. And

it's already been a pretty wild year in quantum computing with all the

announcements coming out. First, it started off with kind of the CES kind

of, oh, no. This is gonna be not not a thing anytime

soon, right, from from everybody's favorite

GPU CEO, to

now every company is coming out with these announcements just fast and

furious. What's your take on the current state of the quantum

computing world? I think it's

advancing really, really fast. You know? I mean, so I think

there is a lot of hype around it.

I think it's only natural, you know. I think the, the

field is going generally in a steady

state forward. I don't

think we're yet in some exponential rise or

especially in the, you know,

physically and technically speaking. But I

think the height the hype is is justified. You know, you want

to this is this is going to basically change the world, you know. It might

take a few years, depends on who you ask.

But I think it definitely is something

a new part a new computing paradigm that we're not used

to. We don't know it. And I think

the for me, the most important thing and and and

the most, I would say, encouraging is to see

so many startups coming out all around the world, both in

Israel, but also, like, worldwide. And I know eventually

one of them will shine. You know, it's a it might be one of the

big players also. But I think it's also, like, not only that

it's going forward, but it's only ex also expanding,

you know, in width. So I think this is very, very encouraging to the

entire field. Absolutely. I think one of the

the detriments of existing technology industry

is that it's focused really in pretty much

Silicon Valley, and Seattle. Right? So kind of

one time zone. And I think that

I think that there's a certain geographic bias that you have if

you're based in an area, and I think that it's encouraging to see

this quantum hotspots around the world, like you said. Right? There's

obviously what you're doing in Israel. There's, Montreal, apparently, is a

big quantum presence.

Maryland, where I live, actually has a has a pretty big

research center. Obviously, you know, its proximity to DC probably

helps. Maybe maybe I

was joking. We were joking with somebody the other day who was talking about College

Park, Maryland is where the University of Maryland is, but it's also

this massive IKEA is there. So we always joke, like, maybe there's a

correlation between IKEA presence of IKEA's

and quantum hot spots. I don't know. But, Then then it would be

everywhere in the world. Right? That's right. Then maybe that's what it is. Like, people

just really like the Swedish meatballs. I don't know. Or maybe to

assemble the furniture without any problem, you have to be a

PhD level physicist. I don't know. But,

I think that I think that's interesting because I've noticed that too. Right? Like, there

are definitely kinda hot spots, but the hot spots are not the hot spots

didn't say technology were, you know, Seattle, Redmond, you know,

San Jose, Cupertino. Right? All in one time zone. And,

arguably, you could say New York has a pretty solid startup scene too.

Right? But I've noticed that quantum

hot spots tend to be far more evenly distributed.

We also find that the hot spots are now usually

in correlation to a major university, that's around them.

So for example, the hot spot in Boston is very

much connected with MIT and Harvard. Right?

You have universities, you know, College Park, Maryland. They

have Boulder, Colorado. Today, a lot of news is coming out of

Chicago. They've just received

there's there's a place in Chicago, the Illinois Quantum,

and Microelectronics Park. They've just received an additional

$2,000,000 to work with PsiQuantum

on more, you know, really establishing Chicago,

Illinois as as one of these quantum centers. I just wanted to

throw that in.

Interesting. So I QMP. I I I'm aware of that. Yeah.

Oh, very cool. What is the, what

are the main problems that you're working on in in your lab?

Or do they you kinda just what what are the main problems you're trying to

solve? Are they industry problems? Are they kind of, you know, how do we build

one of these machines? How do we make them practical? Yeah. So maybe

before we dive into the problems, maybe it's it's better to, you know, just

just give you what do we actually do here and then it

might, you know, give a better context to the discussion. So,

the IQCC, first of all, it's it's it's it's it's being built and operated

by by by Quantum Machines, which is an Israeli startup. It's,

the largest Israeli startup. It's it's a it's a quantum control

company, the largest quantum control company in the

world, the leading one, with, you

know, over 300 customers everywhere in all the places you

mentioned. We're everywhere. So this is already an

established well funded, also a

company. Recently, we announced a a a

a round of another additional

$170,000,000. So this

is already an established company, with an established

sector of customers. And we got basically the

mandate from the Israeli Innovation Authority to build this

Israeli Quantum Computing Center, which

is partially funded by the Israeli Innovation Authority, but still

managed and owned by quantum machines. And the idea of the IQCC

is to be an infrastructure for,

to allow basically research and development for

third parties. Okay? So I personally

don't do like do not develop quantum computer here.

Okay? I am dedicated to

adjust the infrastructure. So I need to do some R and D on my on

my behalf on how to allow the best facility

for the quantum ecosystem, I would say,

to basically connect

and run their R and D on on this premise.

Okay? So in general, we have these

three, you know, and that's really generally speaking of these three services.

One of them is a quantum computer over the Cloud. So

you can connect remotely to a quantum computer

at the IQCC. We have several technologies

basically. One of them is superconducting

quantum computer. We have two

processors, one with 17 cubits and the other is 21 cubits.

So you can log in, run your algorithms, run your

research, and you can do it at the pulse level. So you

can go as low as you want in the stack, I would say.

So this is one thing that we're enabling basically. In addition,

everything is tightly integrated with

supercomputers with a high performance computing HPC.

So, this is why we call it a quantum

data center because it's not only about quantum computers, it's also about classical

computers and tight integration between the quantum and classical.

And part of it is the DGX Quantum, the project that Quantum Machines has

together with NVIDIA on basically, you

know, tightly integrating in the at the hardware

level. The control, the OPX 1,000 by quantum machines

and the Grace Hopper, the NVIDIA Superchip. So

this is one offering that we have. The other the second

one is basically a cryogenic test bed.

So this is for hardware, more

for hardware companies. So let's say that you are a startup. You would

like to, you know, you think you have the best idea for the best cubits

ever cubit ever. If you want to build the same thing that I have, you

know, right behind me, it will take you first of all, you know, multimillion

dollars but also probably around a year if

you're fast. So, you know, we are able

to assist startups at their their initial phase

to test their devices here at the IQCC.

And it's very very important to for us to accelerate the

ecosystem basically. So you can start here and then, you

know, eventually we will build your own lab. You will go to your own way

but this is a great start. You get, you know, the state of the art

system which will take you a lot of money, a lot of time to

build and you get it on day one and you can start running with it.

And the third thing that we do is also we we give education and

and and quantum workforce training at the IQCC, which we

believe is really kind of a bottleneck today at at in the quantum

industry. You know, I've been in the academia

for what fifteen years? And so you don't want any

person that works at the quantum industry to

be after, you know, bachelor, master, PhD, and a postdoc.

Right? And then, okay, now you you now you can go work at a quantum

industry or maybe you're only PhD and then you need like ten years.

Right. Right. But then maybe it's not mandatory.

Maybe you can take good physicists, good electrical engineers.

They're amazing. They've been working for fifteen years in the industry. Okay. You train

them for a few months, you made them a quantum expert, you know.

So this is kind of also where the market is heading because, you

know, it's growing rapidly. And

other than, you know, money, time, you also need good people.

And this is something also that we are aiming to lead at the

IQCC as well. So I

mean That's really cool. That answers your your question.

No. It answers you just then some. Right? I mean like I mean is it

fair to say you're like a quantum accelerator? Right? Like, I mean, or quantum

Exactly. Exactly. I think couple of things you said there. I think we're just a

hundred percent spot on. I don't wanna hog the mic because I know Candace is

I see her eyes, like, you know, lighting up. But I think the number one

thing was, you know, there's a lot of people you're right. That,

you know, maybe they have a design I like the idea that you have where

you have like a cryogenic center where you can be like, Hey, I have this

great idea. I have this great idea. I want to build this hardware. And then

let's just give a crazy example. Like, you know, maybe once it gets to a

certain temperature, the board cracks or the breadboard cracks or or whatever. Right? Like,

it's it's a great way to test and prototype. Right? I think that's brilliant.

The other thing too was you're absolutely right. Like, there's a shortage of people

and skill set in the quantum I don't wanna say the quantum realm because I

think of Ant Man or whatever. But, like, you know, the quantum space is that

you're right. Like, the amount of people that are gonna be needed

for this space, you know, if you go through the traditional

kind of, you know, PhD in physics, postdoc work, and then

industry, that's really gonna slow things down. But what if you could take not just

electrical engineers, but software engineers, right, And kinda say, like, this is

how you this is how you would code it in traditional, and you can kinda

take them and and repurpose them into, you know, the different types of

algorithms and stuff like that. I remember reading about

the different gates that are available inside of a quantum computer and was

completely floored. I'm like, wow. This this opens up a lot of doors.

Right? And then it's and I even wonder, like, you

know, are you gonna need to offer, like, remedial computer science

for a lot of these people? Because last time I really thought a lot about

logic gates at that level was a long time ago. I'm not even sure

they teach that that to kids today at school. You know what I mean?

So, and and certainly, you know, not all

computer science

programs are created equally. Right? I'm I'm pretty sure that you would have a different

experience if you went to, like, one of those boot camps where they taught you

how to code. Like, not knocking on them, but I don't know how much time

they spend on the actual, you know, silicon in in the

example. Right? So I think it's I think it's great because you're you're really kind

of building ahead. It's like if let's just say if a company

figures it out tomorrow, right, everything goes perfect for them,

They're gonna need to hire all these people. The quantum curious. Right? And, you know,

you're gonna need quantum marketers. Like, well, what's that mean? How do you market a

quantum computer? How do you how do you what's your d t g go to

market plan? Like, what's your what's your marketplace look like? You know?

And and all sorts here, the practical stuff. Like, you know, if I'm

a if I'm a data center designer, right, I

obviously, I have electricians, electrical engineers on

my staff, but what are the unique power requirements for quantum computers

as they are today, right? They they they obviously have, you know, cooling

systems, but probably not liquid nitrogen based stuff. Like, what does

that look like? Like, what is that practical kind of like not

even day two stuff. I think, you know, kind of just the how

do you rack them and stack them as they would say. Right? Like, what's that

look like? Did you have any

questions, Candace? Well, I was just really interested in the bottleneck

idea that there is so much opportunity for

other people in this industry, you know, to kind of

find a spot where they could be, you know, teaching the

knowledge that they have in order to bring people closer,

to what they need in order to use these systems appropriately.

I like the idea that there's a lot of space there. I like the idea

that it doesn't have to be necessarily a direct path,

that there's you know, you can take people with different skills and then you can

position them in certain in certain areas where then they're

able to teach others what they need in order to make these

systems effective. I like that kind of collaborative

feel. You know? I'm also in my head, I'm kind of

thinking, like, what kind of problems are you

are you trying to get solutions for by

using, your quantum computer? Like, what are

you specifically looking at right now?

Yeah. So I think the idea of the IQCC, and that that's what I like

the most. So first of all, I mean, the

quantum ecosystem is is is is pretty large and and

starting or at least starting to be pretty large with but there are a lot

of, like, small companies and usually,

each company works alone. And I think that at least as I

see the future of quantum computing of quantum computers, like,

you should really have, like, a, you know, a dedicated focused

company working on a certain thing. So I don't see so so for

example, let's say that I'm building a quantum computer, right, and I

need cables. I will not go in I will not go and build the

cables. Right? Or I will not or let's say, I even need a a

laptop. Right? I will not go and build the laptop. I'm gonna buy it from

the store or the same with the with with the cable. So I

think in my in my vision, I

see I see that, you know, when you build a quantum computer, you

need so many components. And I think like

you just need expertise in each one of them. So for

example, quantum machines are experts in quantum control.

And you can see behind me, for example, you have, you know, BlueForce that are

experts in dilution fridges. There are other companies, it's

fine. But I wouldn't want to see

companies build their own, you know, components

when you have them when you have small companies which are experts

in these components. And the same goes, in my opinion,

for software and algorithms. Right? So at the

IQCC, the idea is that we give, you know, we have we have place for

everyone. We can give you the access to each level of the

stack. So we have, you know, software companies working

here but also like all over the stack.

If you go to, you know, like a

computer, right? You have intel that are making the chips but you have

Windows and you have Excel and you have, I don't know,

Adobe PDF view. Right? So it's like you have things across the

stack and that's the same for quantum computers. So

we have There's a whole ecosystem there's a whole ecosystem that is Yeah. And

and and and it's a full stack. Right? So you can here you can

test the chip. If you have, let's say, that you

build a filter or or an amplifier or something, you can test

it with a chip that we provide. You can

log in if you have a low level software that needs to, you know, maybe

you run quantum error correction but on the actual like

hardware level. Right? You want to learn the noise on the hardware

level. You can get access to that, that's pulse level access. If you

want to go higher in the stack, you go

gate level access. You can run-in gate level access here and then, you know,

if you're trying to do quantum error correction or quantum

algorithms. And I feel like,

you know, we need to advance in all of this stack. So it's

like this is this is this is, how I

feel obviously like the the processor itself is a huge, huge, huge

engineering

challenge because we still don't have, you know, fault tolerant

qubits. But the idea is that, okay, maybe we don't need fault tolerant

qubits. Maybe we just need good control system and good quantum error

correction algorithms and that will fix it. So I think

that's kind of where the the industry is going. Like, okay, let's try to improve

the qubits. Let's try to improve the the software. Let's try to improve the control.

Let's try to improve the the filters that we have so we have less

noise. So everything is is needs to, you know,

basically be better. And,

so I think this this is this is what we're trying to provide. Like, accelerate

basically, the realization of of useful quantum

computers. That's that's the idea. Interesting.

And you might be a first person, Candace. Correct me if I'm wrong. That is

really kind of explained that, you know, the whole

ecosystem and has a holistic approach

to what that whole ecosystem needs to look like. Oh,

absolutely. Like, the way he's talking about how there's so many

there's so many different positions that are available. There's so much

need, for people with specific type of knowledge

that they could all go into this and be incredibly

collaborative, which you know is always my game. I'm always I'm all

into the collaboration of it all. I don't care about one about

one company kind of standing up and being the leader. I'd rather there be

a whole bunch, kind of bringing everyone towards, you

know, understanding quantum computing better. But no,

I really like how he breaks up the ecosystem in a very different way than

what we've heard before. A %. And I think it also I

mean, maybe it's confirmation bias, but Candace and I kinda had

this idea that, like, when this thing blows up or grows

up, right, it's gonna need you're gonna need a village. Right?

You're gonna need the ecosystem. Right? Like, the PC industry as we

know it, if you kinda look at the early documentaries and, you

know, where it started off with the Altair and these home brew

computer groups, every one of those people that were at those meetings

well, not every one of them, but, like, each one of them had a startup,

had realized that they had to fix one particular aspect of something. Right? So like

you said, like, you know, you're not gonna go buy you're not gonna you're not

gonna go make your own cables. Right? You're gonna buy it from someone

who makes cables. Right? And, like, I I think people

people take for granted the entire ecosystem that exists in

conventional or classical computers. Whereas this is gonna be some

of it I think we'll be able to reuse, but some of it's gonna have

to be completely built from the ground up. I think,

like, even if you go to, you know, maybe, I don't know, the chip industry.

Right? Mhmm. You go to these huge players. I don't know. Intel,

TSMC, whatever. You got these huge players. But if you go to their okay. So

maybe even let's assume that there is one that controls %

of the chip industry. But then you if you go to their

fabrication facility, I assume that they do not

produce the the machines that produce the chips.

Right? Right. Absolutely. Yeah. So they buy it from I don't know.

Whatever company. I don't want to name names. But, you know, they're buying from somewhere

and they have, you know, other devices that so they they

they they gathered things from other places. They integrated them

together and then they bring you the best product ever.

Right? So I think there's a problem, but I don't correct me if

I'm wrong, but I don't think NVIDIA even owns their own production facilities. Right? They

they lease it from t t c TSMC.

TSMC. TC. I'm gonna Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm sorry. I cut

you off. But, like,

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not I'm not an expert, but, I mean,

it only makes sense. Like, even if you even when you build a car when

you build a car Right. You go you don't make your usually,

I assume you don't make your own tires. Right? So they

are like dedicated tire companies. And

it only makes sense. Glass companies, dedicated Exactly. Exactly.

And the robots. Who makes the robots that put the cars together on the assembly

line? It's not Exactly. Exactly. The auto man car manufacturer.

Exactly. So I think there's room for for for a lot of

companies here that are really experts and dedicated. You

know. I think there there is room for many

technologies in my I mean, at least the near

future. Obviously, you know, there might be one that will rise

and, you know, just wipe everyone else because it's so much better.

But currently, maybe, you know, one is

better for this task and another one is better for this task.

And, you know, for this one, you just need high numbers of

qubits and short lifetimes. But for this one, you just need small number of qubits

and long lifetimes and better fidelities. And, you know, you don't you need all to

all connectivity. You don't need so I think there is room for for a lot

of of players here at least, you know, in the

near future. And I definitely see,

I see much more collaborations. I would like to see even more,

at least for my that's that's I would say even say it's my

personal view.

Usually, you know, especially when you come from academia, you're used to

collaborate. And I've been fifteen years in the academia. So you're used to collaborate

all around and you know, with people. So I think that's

the that's the way to go. You know, you should really get that

like the the the fridge from the expert, the the cable

from the expert, the filter from the expert, the control from the expert, the QPU

from the experts, etcetera, and integrate everything together

and and make, you know, a great quantum computer. That's, yeah.

Very cool. So there hasn't been a lot of public announcements

coming out of Israel, in terms of what they're

doing with quantum computing. You know, we are hearing about other countries

that are just being, just,

just, you know, promulgating their their information

greater? Like, do you find that that's something specifically about Israel

that they're not necessarily trying to necessarily

show off kind of what they have and what they're doing? It's more of

kind of like an internal,

kind of an internal project that they're kind of just working on and trying to,

you know, see what they can create out of it? What do you think is

the is the is the perception we should take

from from what Israel does with their information, you know, involving

quantum? Yeah. So so I I think

I missed your the first few words that you said, but you said that Israel

hasn't been Yeah. Yeah. I I see not much in the

news. And I you know, and not not to say everyone should do what they

wanna do, and what they think is the most important and appropriate

for what they're trying to work on. I just find it is I find it

interesting that constantly Israel is always on the

cusp of every new technology that

there is, but they keep it a little quiet, a little closer to the vest.

Yeah. So I think, like, in general, so first of all,

you know, the big players dominate also the news. Like, you hear about

Microsoft, you hear about Google, you hear about IBM, you hear about Intel maybe. I

don't know. So that's that's number one. I think you don't hear about,

you know, amazing startups that are rising around the

world. And I think that Israel is

lagging a bit behind. I think we have great idea now. We have great

ecosystem. That wasn't the case few years ago.

So five so quantum machines was started in seven years

ago in 2018 and 2019. And then there was like the only

quantum company. Later, they came like two others more of a

software higher level companies. And only recent two

years started to to grow like this, a hardware

quantum startups. They they want to do like, you know, full stack quantum

computers. So I first of all,

I think it's lagging a bit behind, but I think that the main thing

is that Israel understood it. So we want to

be more ahead.

But in general, I think that, we're rising and I I mean, I hope

that you will hear great news in the future. So I think like,

there are lots, lots, lots and lots and lots of players, small players around the

world that you do not hear about. And

it doesn't mean that they're not, you know,

not will not lead the industry

in the future. Right? I also think I don't think there

is I don't don't, you know, I don't think there is any intention to hide

anything. Right? No. I would mean I didn't mean to apply that. I just thought

it was We're a bit similar. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I

I also completely understand what you mean. I also think too, like, the

whole idea you're the first person to mention that you have, like, a quantum test

bed, right, where you can hook it up to, like, one of those cooling systems

and try it out. Like, I I I wonder, like, how many

how many hardware startups are are gonna come from that. Right?

And and and to your point, the fact

that you're also focused on educating existing industry professionals,

I think it's gonna you know, I can give it, like, three to five years

and and and you will hear a lot more out of it. I think what

you're doing there is very clever because you're you're planting

seeds that will may not bear fruit this

year, maybe not next year, but guaranteed they will in in the five year

time frame. Because, you know, if you're going to have a quantum workforce, right? The

quantum, you know, once there's a practical and I put practical in air

quotes for those listening. Right? Because practical what

what a practical quantum computer means is slightly different

to whoever asked it. Right? You ask five people, you get seven different

opinions or what a practical quantum computer is. But whenever

that happens, whatever that

happens, it will there will be an immediate need

for a quantum capable or quantum aware workforce.

That's from the people who build data centers, the

people who plug stuff into the data centers, the people who write the code on

it, the people who get paged out in the middle of the night when something

breaks. Right? To the marketers, to this

to the CEOs, and and, you know, all the business line

folks. And, I think that, you know, you're built

you know, I think you're really the first guest to realize,

like, there needs to be kind of a public partner,

private, partnership where you're building out this

workforce because this is going to happen. Now when it'll happen, I think, is the

only thing people are debating about. But,

it's going to happen. And the best way to be prepared for the future

rationale for this podcast. Right? Like, how do you go from being quantum curious

to actually knowing how to talk to customers? How do you

how do you explain to I had a conversation early this morning, oddly

enough. Like, how do you explain to a CIO

or CTO or CEO? Why they should care about

quantum computers? Right? And kind of like

my take was, you know, you

have to explain to someone who's not technical.

Explain, like, this is coming. It's going to do

to conventional computers as you know them today to what

computers did to the slide rule in Abacus. Right? It's going to be

like that kind of, I don't want to say quantum leap, but it's going to

be that type of jump ahead in processing power.

And it's not going to be like, you know, a latest and greatest chip.

Right? You know, Intel comes out with a new server chip or, you know, you

know, a new i9 chip or I whatever chip, and you plug it into

a motherboard, and you you plug it into the network, and boom, you suddenly have

this magical new thing. It's gonna be a completely new

ecosystem that has to be built. And, you know,

and when you're getting down to brass tacks and kind of practical things, like, I

don't know if it's gonna happen this year. I don't know if it's gonna happen

next year. I don't know if it's gonna happen in five years. Right? I don't

know. But the best way is to start thinking about that. How are you gonna

hire quantum people? Right? You're gonna annoy a lot of people if, you know, say

tomorrow. Right? This happens. Right? Well, we

need someone with five years experience, you know, developing quantum computers, which is a

big annoyance that recruiters do. Right? Like, this framework came out a year ago.

We need someone with ten years experience with it.

Really? No. Yeah. Yeah. So,

I mean, I think that, you know, the

motivation for the Israeli Innovation Authority behind it

was kind of, you know, if you build it, they will come. Right? Yeah.

Right. Right. Absolutely. That's the idea. So, I mean, we are open

to all of the world. Like, there is no restriction. Like,

we're working with with the entire world and

Israel, as part of this world. But the idea is, you know, that

once it's here, it's closer. People are interesting. People are coming. They're looking.

They're seeing. They're touching. Then it accelerates everything, you

know? And in my opinion, it's working. It's working even

though, you know, you might you might be working a lot with with also with

with customers.

It's still, you know, getting traction and hype and people are

hearing about it from their colleagues and they say, oh, wait, it's right here in

Tel Aviv. Right? I mean, I can drive fifteen minutes and I'm there. Let's go

talk to them, see what's happening. And then it's much easier to collaborate and

much easier to, you know,

execute your great ideas because, you know, it's

we have this great facility for lease and you can

just, go and do stuff that you could not imagine before.

So this is really I think the, the motivation

behind it, at least in terms of the IIA and obviously

for quantum machines. No. I think it's great. I think it's

great. I think we're gonna need the world's gonna

need a lot more of this to follow the model that you have.

Yeah. I think it's it's already going. Right? So Right. And

obviously, in in in The US, it's, you know, on a larger scale. But I

think we are actually I mean, I would say

as far as I know, we're the first to to to build something like

that, like a like a, you know, remote access

quantum data center. And

So were your systems there, are they are are they hybrid?

So the idea here is to build

a hybrid system because so so so we're seeing

that the near future of quantum computing is is is being

hybrid. Like, you know, quantum computers will not stand alone in the next few

years. But we believe that, you know, CPUs, GPUs, they can accelerate

it. And Right. That we have that's

the idea behind the IQCC is to have a hybrid

quantum classical computer. So we work kind of in,

I would say, in layers. So the first layer, this is the

OPX 1,000, the quantum control by quantum machines.

And this can give you, you know, really fast

control in the orders of nanoseconds, okay? Hundreds of nanoseconds,

tens of nanoseconds, hundreds of nanoseconds. You can control your qubits. You can do

really fast, operations on the qubits. But, you know,

sometimes you want to do something that you need

a larger compute capacity. Right? You want to do quantum error correction on a hundred

cubits. And then you want to

go to a classical processor. So what

we're now co developing with NVIDIA, the DGX

Quantum and we just gave a second demo

at the APS, the American Physical Society March meeting,

is that you can we have this

dedicated communication card which is, been

developed by Quantum Machines. So

you can extract the information from the Quantum System. It goes out

to this communication card with our logic on it with our

IP, and then it can say, okay, what do you want to do next? Right?

And then if it's a small operation, it goes directly to the OPX 1,000, to

the control system. But if it's something that you need powerful computation

resource, then it will direct you to the NVIDIA Grace Hopper. And

then you have CPU GPU. It can decide, wait, this is a task for CPU.

This is task for GPU. And then it comes back to the control and back

to the quantum system, and every all of this is done in less than

five microseconds. So I think we showed three point seven microseconds. So this

is like microsecond time scale, which is shorter

than the lifetime. So this is like really still real time

measurements. Okay? So this is good for mid circuit measurements and real time

quantum error correction. And then if you wanna go, you know, you

need okay. Wait. No. One GPU is not enough. I need more. Then

we have in a separate room, like, a server room where you have DGX a

100 by NVIDIA that's already eight GPUs. So you

can also take it out there. But this is for like, you know, post processing.

You're done with your measurement, you can take it

out. This is milliseconds, time

scale. Then you have larger,

classical compute. And if you want, I would say, infinite

classical compute, you can also we are also working with AWS cloud

so you can take your information to the cloud and run it on as many

GPUs as you want. And that will take, you

know, a longer time scale. But this is like kind of the layers that we're

working on. And this is our, you

know, this is where we're focused. And

we are really like Quantum Machines as a company is really, you know,

focused on this tightly integration of quantum and

classical processing because this we believe that this is the way to go in the

future years. In the near future, I mean. Yeah. I

mean, that makes sense. I mean, I think that it's

certainly in the most practical way forward.

Yeah. I mean, you know, quantum computers, you will not, you

know, do your Excel sheet on a Excel sheet on a quantum computer or you

will not play GTA six, GTA seven on on your current

computer. So, you're also probably

not run things that you run currently on on I don't know if you do,

you know, GNAI and then and then generate, you know,

these amazing pictures from the Simpsons have been sent Yeah. I do. You

know, of my my my, you know,

character in Simpsons. So I don't believe you're going to do it on on a

quantum computer, but we we believe that each

the same as as, you know, I'm going with my phone. I don't have a

GPU here. Right? Right. And I don't have a GPU on my computer because I

can just access the Cloud and and and, you know, one thing on AI and

that runs on GPUs. So we believe

this will be the same with quantum computers. You will have a quantum computer

and you can just, you know, choose what will do

the test that you want to do best. Or even in the task you

want to do, which parts are done best on a CPU, which are done best

on a GPU, and which are done best on on a QPU.

And I think this is really the vision, you know. I don't know what to

say what will happen in fifty, seventy years. I

always show this picture when I give this, you know, elect

it talks about quantum computing. I will show this picture of, you know, IBM quantum

computer IBM classical computer eighty years ago.

Right? And it looks exactly similar to what you see here behind.

Right? It looks very, very similar. So I say, okay. I don't know if in

eighty years this is how the, you know, quantum computer will look like,

but I know that in ten years it won't. Right?

So I I think this is the idea. We're not gonna hold it in our

pocket, but it will do the tasks and it will, you know,

you can direct specific tasks that it will excel in and

things that are not only accelerating quant

classical computing, but actually opens to,

you know, complete things that are completely blocked by classical

computing. Wow. This is, you know, this is this is basically the hyper on quantum

because it's it's a new paradigm. It's not that you can do things faster.

It's that you can do things that you could never done with a with a

classical computer or it would take a billion years to do. Right.

Uh-huh. Which can be completely impractical, obviously. Yeah. Exactly.

Exactly. Interesting. Yeah. So I think

every all of these resources should coexist. I don't think,

I don't know, Microsoft or or

or or or Nvidia should be worried about their business, you know, because of quantum

computers. Because I think quantum computers will coexist with

CPUs and GPUs, and, that's that's at least my

vision. Cool.

Any parting thoughts, Candice? Honestly, I'm just so incredibly

fascinated. I I really enjoy the whole collaborative

effort of what quantum computing can be.

That's really what excites me the most and and these,

and these data centers and what they can be used for. And you're totally right.

Like, we're not gonna be solving it for, you know,

playing for generative AI. We're not gonna be using it,

you know, to give us an image or to give us a Simpsons character. It's

going to be for the purpose that it's intended for. You know?

But, no, I I I love I love

what Nir has explained, and I'm

fascinated by, you know, the next the next thing that they're

going to be able to create there. I mean, it's right behind them.

It's very exciting. I really I really like the the long view approach

you all have taken there because it it it's not

you're you're doing you have the test bed. People can come and test

their hardware on and at cryogenic temperatures.

You can also, you're also doing the

courses for kind of, you know, quote, unquote normal people. Right?

Not normal. Regular people. Classical people. There we go. Classical people.

There we go. So I like it. I think I think it's

it's brilliant. Like, on top of everything else you're doing, and I I I

would encourage others around the world to follow the similar model of,

like, you know, start a quantum interest group or start, like, a

thing where you kind of study groups and things like that. And there's plenty of

of resources. And I'm also encouraged by,

I'm encouraged by, you

know, the collaborative approach that I'm seeing here. I think

that's it's gonna be I think accelerate

something. I would love to be able to come back

with you near, you know, in a little bit of time and just to see

what has progressed, what has happened, you know, where you

are, where you're you know, the the next focus that you

have. I think that you have an incredible story

to tell, that a lot of people would

be really interested in that is not necessarily

being told right now by other companies

that are developing different types of technologies. It's really

thoughtful and insightful with how you're explaining how this has

to evolve and develop, and

how really just more people can come in to be involved in it.

I think that sounds fantastic. Absolutely.

So keep up the good work, and we definitely wanna keep in touch and let

us know if you have anything you wanna share with us on our audience in

the future. And, we encourage those that are listening to go

and subscribe to our newsletter. Go to impactquantum.com. In

the upper right, there should be a thing

that says, you know, join our list, and,

we'll keep everyone informed of the latest happenings. I think

that sounds great. Thank you, Frank. And thank you here. This is there anything that

you'd like to tell us as, like, a parting a parting comment,

or or a hot take, on,

on quantum computing?

No. I mean, I first of all, thanks for having me.

It's also good to to sit there, I know, a lot of quantum podcasts.

Unfortunately, I I I don't have I mean, I don't listen much,

but, it's really it's really I mean, when you I mean, when I looked for

quantum podcast, I said, oh my god. There are so many. Maybe I should start

listening, you know? But it's really, really

great to see that, you know, it's also

intriguing for the for, you know, for the classical people.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I think

that, I think quantum computing

ecosystem is going in the right direction. It grows.

I think it still needs, you know, a bit of time to to to

grow, but I think it's really, really going, steady forward.

At IQCC, we're also going to grow a lot this year.

So we're going to expand our facility.

And, I mean, every everything is expanding. Scaling is the is

the is the issue. And, I think this will

be the the the the next challenge. Right? How do we scale?

This is already the huge challenge. Right?

Yeah. So we need to scale both in quantum computing and and in the

quantum, audience. Excellent.

Agreed. And we'll let our AI, Bailey, finish the

show. And that, dear listeners, wraps up another

quantum conundrum cracked wide open here on impact.

Quantum. Immense thanks to near alpha c for reminding us that

not all heroes wear capes and wear lab coats and hang

out next to very, very expensive freezers. If you

enjoyed today's episode, do subscribe, leave us a review,

and tell a friend preferably one who thinks cat is just a

weird meme. Until next time, stay curious,

stay entangled. And remember, in quantum computing,

the future isn't just bright, it's probabilistic.