Alice & Bob to offer on-premise quantum computer

French quantum computing firm Alice & Bob is making its quantum computer available to customers for on-premises deployment.

The company this month announced its Helium quantum computer, a “complete quantum computing system” designed to host its first logical qubit and “advance the frontier of quantum error-correction research.”

“Say hello to the Helium Quantum System!” the company said. “For the first time, a company is making an integrated cat-qubit quantum system available for on-premise installation to research partners worldwide.”

Spanning 21 sqm (9m long, 2.4m wide, and 3.3m tall) with a 40kW power requirement, the system includes a supercooled-chandelier design hosting an 18 cat-qubits chip, a cooling unit, and an air-cooled control & signaling electronics unit totaling around four racks of space. The system will also need a gas handling unit and a compressor.

The company said it wasn’t unveiling Helium to sell compute, but aiming to open it to research partners, HPC centers, and “pioneers who want to help shape the future of quantum computing.”

The upgradable quantum system will also support the next 48 cat-qubit chip on Alice & Bob’s roadmap – expected to feature multiple logical qubits.

Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob claims its superconducting ‘cat qubits’ are protected from bit-flip errors by design, meaning additional error-correcting qubits are only needed to tackle the remaining phase-flip errors. Though Amazon is also developing cat qubit quantum systems, Alice & Bob said Helium is the first on-premise system based on the technology.

The company is developing a $50 million quantum computing laboratory in Paris, France. The 4,000 sqm (43,055 sq ft) purpose-built facility will be able to host up to 20 quantum systems.