The Quantum Computing Race

Lately, US big techs have been unveiling quantum computing innovations as the race to develop a usable quantum computer heats up. Google revealed a quantum chip called Willow in December of last year. Amazon announced the new chip during an event held on February 26. The company’s announcement comes barely a week after Microsoft unveiled its quantum chip known as Majorana 1.

Amazon has said that its chips will enable bosonic error correction, a critical step in pushing computing systems to the level where they solve calculations that classic computers take years to complete. Taking lead in quantum computing will be a big opportunity for these cloud computing giants because it will give them an advantage in this emerging field.

Quantum computing has the potential to impact different industries and drive revenue growth for years to come. Unlike classical computing that uses bits that only exist in 1 and 0, quantum computing technology relies on qubits that exist as both at the same time. This boosts the capacity of quantum computers to process high amounts of information fast.

In some instances, quantum computers can take minutes to perform tasks that ordinary computers would take hundreds of years to complete.

Quantum Chips vs Classical Chips

While qubits present a huge opportunity in computing, they are fragile and prone to errors. These errors can occur if qubits encounter interference from the external world. Amazon’s AWS quantum innovation is designed to efficiently fix these errors.

“We believe that Ocelot’s architecture, with its hardware-efficient approach to error correction, positions us well to tackle the next phase of quantum computing, learning how to scale. Scaling frugally using hardware-efficiency will allow us to achieve more quickly and cost-effectively an error-corrected quantum computer that benefits society,” Amazon Head of Quantum Hardware Oskar Painter and Head of Quantum Software Application Fernando Brandão wrote in a statement.

Amazon’s Ocelot chip was developed in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology. It features two integrated silicon microchips that are stacked on top of each other. The cloud computing company says its chip design could lower error-correction costs by up to 90%.

“With the recent advancements in quantum research, it is no longer a matter of if, but when practical, fault-tolerant quantum computers will be available for real-world applications,” AWS Quantum Hardware Director Oskar Painter.

Microsoft and Google Quantum Rivalry

Tech leaders hold varying views on when quantum computing will be ready to perform high level calculations that can enable scientists to do anything, from financial modeling to discovering new medicines.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said that practically, this could take up to 20 years. Google CEO Sundar Pichai thinks the timeframe could be shorter, between five and ten years. Google says its Willow chip is aimed at fixing errors that show up in the process of using quantum systems.

The search giant claims that this chip will be useful in scaling quantum computing in the coming years. Microsoft says its Majorana 1 quantum computing chip uses a material known as topoconductor. This material leverages a new state of matter that’s neither gas nor solid in a topological state. Some experts have expressed skepticism towards this claim.

Even with these developments, it will take time before quantum computing becomes a reality in households. Its systems have to run at near absolute zero temperatures and run in a vacuum. As companies continue to innovate around this technology in the coming years, it’s highly possible that the world will be entering a new computing age in a few decades.

The post Amazon Launches Ocelot Chip as it Joins Google, Microsoft in Quantum Computing Race appeared first on Tech Research Online.

Strong Performance

IBM’s net income for quarter four rose by 1% to reach $17.6 billion. The company announced a $3.93 earnings per share against the $3.78 projected by analysts. IBM’s strong performance was attributed to its software business, which includes Red Hat. Earnings from the software business rose by 10% while that of its consulting business continued to struggle as earnings dipped by 2%.

“IBM delivered a strong quarter highlighted by better solid overall software revenue at $7.9 billion vs. consensus of $7.9 billion but also a continued acceleration of Red Hat growth,” said RBC Capital analyst Matthew Swanson in a report.

2025 Projections

IBM projects that in the fiscal year ending December 2025, its cash flow will hit the $13.5 billion mark. This is over $1 billion more than the $12.9 billion forecasted by Wall Street analysts. The company is expected to record a 5% increase in constant currency. However, current rates would reduce this growth by about 2%.

The company reported that since 2023, bookings for IBM’s AI consulting and software have surpassed the $5 billion mark, up from the $3 billion the tech giant reported in quarterly earnings in July. Majority of the bookings, up to 80%, come from IBM’s consulting unit. Only 20% of the bookings come from its software business.

For years now, IBM has been working to transform from a traditional computer manufacturer to a firm that focused on development of high-growth software and services. The company has leveraged acquisitions to expand its tech product range.

“Three years ago, we laid out a vision for a faster-growing, more-profitable IBM. I’m proud of the work the IBM team has done to meet or exceed our commitments,” Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said.

In 2023, IBM acquired Apptio for $4.6 billion. In April of the same year, it announced plans to acquire Hashicorp. The company expects to close the Hashicorp acquisition by the end of March 2025.

“We estimate HashiCorp adds about one point to total revenue growth for the year,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman

Market Reaction

Following the strong quarterly performance, IBM shares surged by 13% on January 30. The stocks had risen by 7.7% in premarket trading on January 29. The company’s shares have gained 22% over the last one year.

IBM sales growth in the quarter was fueled by its software business. Software constitutes the largest and fastest growing unit in IBM. In the quarter under review, the unit grew by 10% to reach a high of $7.92 billion. This growth was largely driven by the 16% expansion in Red Hat which IBM acquired in 2019. The company announced a $3.92 profit per share for the quarter, which is slightly higher than analyst estimates. Sales revenue from the company’s consulting unit dropped for the fourth year to a low of $5.18 billion.

IBM CFO Jim Kavanaugh attributed the drop to customer shift from conventional consulting to AI projects. According to Kavanaugh, IBM generates up to 4% of its revenue from the federal government. The Trump administration has mentioned that it will be reducing expenditure across the government. These expenditure cuts will have a significant impact on the company’s revenue. Investors are concerned about the potential impact of these cuts on tech companies.

The post Strong Q4 Earnings and AI Bookings Trigger IBM’s 13% Shares Jump appeared first on Tech Research Online.

The Ripple Effect

Huang expressed confidence that Nvidia will play a significant role in developing quantum computers and assisting the industry to grow faster. This comment had a ripple effect on leading quantum computing stocks.

Rigetti Computing stocks dropped by 40% while those of D-Wave Quantum and Arqit Quantum dipped by more than 38% each. IonQ share prices dropped by about 32% while those of AI ETF and Defiance Quantum lost 5% of their value. Shares of Quantum Computing also plunged by 39%.

“If you said 15 years for very useful quantum computers, that would probably be on the early side. If you said 30, it’s probably on the late side. But if you picked 20, I think a whole bunch of us would believe it,” Huang said.

On January 7, 2025, Quantum Computing said it had struck deals to sell off 8.16 million shares to institutional investors at $12.25 per share. This share sale is expected to rake in $100 million for the company for general purposes and working capital. The company plans to finalize the deal on January 9, 2025. These proceeds and existing cash reserves will enable the company to advance the development of quantum technologies.

Positive Outlook

Quantum computing had gotten a boost towards the end of 2024 after Google unveiled the Willow chip. The search giant said that the chip’s performance was far much better that the one it released in 2019. Willow chip had significantly less errors. This announcement triggered a wave of excitement around quantum computing.

Most investors also saw this sector as the next big thing after AI. This positive outlook caused Quantum computing shares to surge towards year end, with D-Wave and Rigetti stock prices rising by 854% and 1,449% respectively.

Quantum computing holds the potential to revolutionize AI despite being in the early phases. Companies like Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Honeywell have already invested in technology to create many innovations and breakthroughs.

Computing Capabilities

Quantum computing technology has been touted for its ability to perform high level computational tasks that ordinary computers can not. The technology is also capable of processing high volumes of data.

Despite these capabilities, some investors have warned that it’s too early to rule out real-world use cases for this technology. The latest comments by Huang also affected quantum computing firms listed in China. Stocks for companies such as Accelink Technologies and QuantumCTek dropped sharply on January 8, 2025.

The post Quantum Stocks Drop Globally as Nvidia CEO Predicts Years of Wait for Tech appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Gopal Gupta

Dr. Gopal Gupta, a leading expert in computer science with a focus on programming languages and applied logic. He earned his degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As the director of the ALPS Laboratory, Dr. Gupta develops innovative software solutions and collaborates with researchers worldwide. He is also a co-founder of Interoperate, a startup transforming legacy systems for major clients like General Electric and Siemens AG. Passionate about education, he co-investigates the CHAMPS program, inspiring the next generation of computer scientists.

John (JD) DuPont

JD brings over 25 years of experience working closely with customers and partners in senior sales, alliance, and marketing roles at leading Fortune 100 technology companies, including Dell, Microsoft, Supermicro, and Fujitsu. His passion for connecting people and technology drives his success in his current role at NVIDIA, where he leads sales and partnership engagements across North America and Latin America with Lenovo.​

Reserve your seat

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The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Rick Grandy

Rick Grandy is a Principal Solutions Architect and manager of the Enterprise RTX SA team at NVIDIA; overseeing technical engagements requiring professional graphics and machine learning across industry verticals, from automotive and healthcare to gaming and live broadcast. Rick has nearly 3 decades of experience in visual effects and animation with industry leaders Industrial Light and Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Digital Domain, Bad Robot, and others. His work initially centered on the development of digital characters but over time it grew to cover the media pipeline end-to-end including real-time previsualization, asset management, post-production, ingestion/delivery systems and early AI development. At NVIDIA, Rick combines his experience with the latest in production technology and advanced research to help our customers build the impossible.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Naomi Jackson

Naomi Jackson, the Global Marketing Lead, AI, for Lenovo’s Solutions & Services Group (SSG), is passionate about helping customers understand and gain value from innovations in AI, cloud, and security.

At Lenovo, Naomi drives product marketing direction, strategy, and programs for existing and new AI offerings. She partners with Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence and product management teams, differentiating Lenovo’s portfolio of various AI solutions and services. Naomi joins other members of Lenovo’s AI team in the mission of helping organizations find the right AI strategies to advance their business goals and deploy them quickly and securely in ethical and responsible ways.

Naomi’s work and education experience spans three continents, and she speaks Italian and Spanish.

John (JD) DuPont

JD brings over 25 years of experience working closely with customers and partners in senior sales, alliance, and marketing roles at leading Fortune 100 technology companies, including Dell, Microsoft, Supermicro, and Fujitsu. His passion for connecting people and technology drives his success in his current role at NVIDIA, where he leads sales and partnership engagements across North America and Latin America with Lenovo.​

Todd Merrill

Todd Merrill is an experienced software executive who typically assists clients as a fractional or interim CTO and CiSO.

He has served in a series of companies as a C-Level executive focused on leveraging the Cloud to bring SaaS offerings to market. As an entrepreneur, turn-around expert, technology and product leader and mentor, Todd has held full corporate P&L and product development responsibilities and directed diverse international teams of Engineering Managers, Mobile Architects, Developers, Dev Ops, QA, and Customer Success professionals.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Josh Kaisen

Josh holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of South Florida and an M.Sc. in Physics from the University at Buffalo, where he collaborated on CERN/CMS research. Formerly an Assistant Professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, he guided student teams to national recognition in policy competitions, including presenting before Congress. Josh has published in top journals like Science and Physical Review Letters A and leverages his Physics expertise to conduct large-scale natural experiments on business outcomes. As Director of Corporate Outreach at the Human-Centered AI Institute, he has launched a seminar series, co-founded a student organization, and led multiple events.

Jason Knudsen

Jason is a technology veteran who has been in the industry for over 30 years. He has managed the business with some of the biggest energy companies in the world while working for many of the best global tech companies including Intel, IBM, EMC, VMware, and Cisco. Jason joined NVIDIA to help start the Field Sales organization by building the energy vertical sales team based out of Houston. 2 years ago, Jason moved over to the OEM Global partner team to focus on Data Center and AI sales with Lenovo. It’s been a great ride, but he “ain’t done yet!”

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Gopal Gupta

Dr. Gopal Gupta, a leading expert in computer science with a focus on programming languages and applied logic. He earned his degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As the director of the ALPS Laboratory, Dr. Gupta develops innovative software solutions and collaborates with researchers worldwide. He is also a co-founder of Interoperate, a startup transforming legacy systems for major clients like General Electric and Siemens AG. Passionate about education, he co-investigates the CHAMPS program, inspiring the next generation of computer scientists.

John (JD) DuPont

JD brings over 25 years of experience working closely with customers and partners in senior sales, alliance, and marketing roles at leading Fortune 100 technology companies, including Dell, Microsoft, Supermicro, and Fujitsu. His passion for connecting people and technology drives his success in his current role at NVIDIA, where he leads sales and partnership engagements across North America and Latin America with Lenovo.​

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Rick Grandy

Rick Grandy is a Principal Solutions Architect and manager of the Enterprise RTX SA team at NVIDIA; overseeing technical engagements requiring professional graphics and machine learning across industry verticals, from automotive and healthcare to gaming and live broadcast. Rick has nearly 3 decades of experience in visual effects and animation with industry leaders Industrial Light and Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Digital Domain, Bad Robot, and others. His work initially centered on the development of digital characters but over time it grew to cover the media pipeline end-to-end including real-time previsualization, asset management, post-production, ingestion/delivery systems and early AI development. At NVIDIA, Rick combines his experience with the latest in production technology and advanced research to help our customers build the impossible.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Naomi Jackson

Naomi Jackson, the Global Marketing Lead, AI, for Lenovo’s Solutions & Services Group (SSG), is passionate about helping customers understand and gain value from innovations in AI, cloud, and security.

At Lenovo, Naomi drives product marketing direction, strategy, and programs for existing and new AI offerings. She partners with Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence and product management teams, differentiating Lenovo’s portfolio of various AI solutions and services. Naomi joins other members of Lenovo’s AI team in the mission of helping organizations find the right AI strategies to advance their business goals and deploy them quickly and securely in ethical and responsible ways.

Naomi’s work and education experience spans three continents, and she speaks Italian and Spanish.

John (JD) DuPont

JD brings over 25 years of experience working closely with customers and partners in senior sales, alliance, and marketing roles at leading Fortune 100 technology companies, including Dell, Microsoft, Supermicro, and Fujitsu. His passion for connecting people and technology drives his success in his current role at NVIDIA, where he leads sales and partnership engagements across North America and Latin America with Lenovo.​

Todd Merrill

Todd Merrill is an experienced software executive who typically assists clients as a fractional or interim CTO and CiSO.

He has served in a series of companies as a C-Level executive focused on leveraging the Cloud to bring SaaS offerings to market. As an entrepreneur, turn-around expert, technology and product leader and mentor, Todd has held full corporate P&L and product development responsibilities and directed diverse international teams of Engineering Managers, Mobile Architects, Developers, Dev Ops, QA, and Customer Success professionals.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.

A Smarter Path to AI:
Breaking the Barriers
to ROI

At this exclusive event, hear from AI experts and connect with other leaders who are driving AI innovation across a wide range of industries. These roundtable sessions will cover the most important AI topics facing executives today, including ethics, sustainability, resourcing, and accelerating time to business value. 

Featured Speakers:

Richard (Rick) Kreuser

Richard (Rick) Kreuser, a Director of Lenovo’s AI Center of Excellence, leads the development of Services offerings and customer engagements for AI/ML, Generative AI, and Digital Transformation. Rick, also leading for AI-Led Innovation, Strategy, AIPC Services, and Lenovo’s Responsible and Secure AI practices, is a frequent speaker and thought partner for Lenovo’s ecosystem partners. Additionally, over his 35-year career, he has led the development and execution of several $100M+ global, technology-driven transformation programs at scale, as both a consulting leader and industry executive.

Reserve your seat

Reserve your seat

[contact-form-7]

The post A Smarter Path to AI: Breaking the Barriers to ROI appeared first on Tech Research Online.