Quantum computers will be used in the design of gas turbines - ForkLog

# Quantum computers will be used to design gas turbines

Quantum computer developer Quantinuum and aviation engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce have launched a multi-year project to study hybrid quantum-classical computing. It also includes Riverlane, a company specializing in quantum error correction, and the EPCC supercomputing center at the University of Edinburgh.

The partners want to determine what capabilities quantum computers will need for future industrial design. For now, it is not a matter of transferring full-scale simulation to the platform, but of testing individual computing components.

Calculating gas flow inside turbines requires substantial resources, especially as the accuracy of the models increases. The project participants will test whether future fault-tolerant quantum computers can perform part of these calculations together with supercomputers.

Quantinuum will provide access to quantum systems and the software environment. Rolls-Royce will prepare industrial use cases, Riverlane will handle algorithms and quantum error correction, and EPCC will handle integration with high-performance computing systems.

The first components of the algorithms will be tested on the Helios quantum computer. Then the partners will assess the feasibility of scaling them to future Quantinuum systems—Sol and Apollo.

The collaboration is tied to the United Kingdom’s quantum computing development program. By 2035, the authorities expect to ensure access to systems deployed in the country capable of performing 1 trillion quantum operations and solving industrially significant tasks together with supercomputers.

Earlier, Quantinuum updated its public listing application and, for the first time, indicated a price range—$45–50 per share. The company plans to offer 21,052,632 class A shares on Nasdaq. With these terms, the post-offering valuation will be $11.43 billion–12.7 billion.

Recall that in June, IBM presented an updated roadmap according to which the company will build the world’s first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.