2020年经济学人 量子计算机蕴藏的商机(3)

Jeremy O'Brien, one of the firm's founders¹, says that, in partnership² with GlobalFoundries, a big contract chipmaker,

该公司创始人之一杰里米·奥布莱恩表示，在大型合同芯片制造商GlobalFoundries的合作下，

PsiQuantum is already producing wafers full of quantum-computing chips.

PsiQuantum已经开始生产纳入了大量量子计算芯片的晶片了。

Other firms are concentrating on making quantum computers easier to work with.

其他公司则将重心放到了提高量子计算机的使用体验方面。

Q-CTRL is an Australian startup that has raised "tens of millions" from investors³ including Sequoia⁴ Capital and In-Q-Tel (which invests on behalf of America's intelligence agencies).

澳大利亚初创公司Q-CTRL已经从红杉资本，In-Q-tel(美国情报机构的投资代表)等投资方处筹集到“数千万”资金。

"We build 'quantum firmware'," says Michael Biercuk, one of the company's founders.

“我们生产的是‘量子固件’，”该公司创始人之一迈克尔·比尔库克说。

This is the lowest level of software, responsible for controlling a computer's hardware directly.

也即直接控制计算机硬件的最低级别的软件。

One reason NISQS are so hard to work with is that the delicate quantum states they rely on break down in fractions of a second, so calculations must be completed in those slivers⁵ of time.

NISQS之所以难用，原因之一就在于这种量子计算机依赖的量子态不稳定，瞬息之间就会发生变化，如此一来，计算工作就必须在这些时间碎片内完成。

On top of this, imperfect manufacturing means that some parts of a quantum chip suffer noticeably more errors than others—a pattern which varies unpredictably between individual chips.

此外，制造工序难免存在缺陷，这就意味着量子芯片的某些地方出现的差错相比之下可能会格外严重——不同芯片之间出错的模式也难以预测。

Careful control of a machine's hardware, says Dr Biercuk, can help minimise these difficulties.

精心控制机器的硬件，比尔库克博士表示，将有助于最大程度地降低这些困难的难度。

To this end Q-CTRL's engineers have used machine learning to improve hardware-control routines written initially⁶ by human beings.

为此，Q-CTRL的工程师们已经开始借助机器学习来完善人类编写的初始硬件控制程序。

Dr Biercuk reckons this can cut error rates by 90% and reduce the variability across an individual chip by a similar amount.

比尔库克博士估计，这一举措能将错误率降低90%，对单个芯片的不确定性的把控也能达到类似幅度。

After building a machine and tuning⁷ it to work as well as possible, the next step is to get it into the hands of potential customers.

等到机器搭建成功并能尽可能顺利地运行之后，下一步工作便是将其交付到潜在客户手中。

The easiest way to do this is to connect interested parties to the internet and invite them to experiment.

最简单的交付办法就是联络感兴趣的有关各方，邀请他们试用。

IBM's "Q Network", established in 2017, is a cloud-computing service that lets clients use the firm's own quantum computers.

IBM旗下，成立于2017年的“Q Network”就是一款为客户提供该公司自己的量子计算机使用服务的云计算服务产品。

IBM now has partnerships⁸ with dozens of established firms, including Daimler, Samsung and Goldman Sachs, which are intended thus to explore the technology.

如今，IBM已经与戴姆勒、三星，高盛等数十家老牌公司建立了合作伙伴关系，他们都已产生探索该项技术的意愿。

Smaller hardware-makers, lacking IBM's reach, have joined up with other cloud-computing firms.

规模较小，不具备IBM那样的影响力的其他硬件制造商也与其他云计算公司携手。

1 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 sequoia   

n.红杉

参考例句：

• The sequoia national forest is at the southern end of the sierra nevada range.红杉国家公园位于内华达山脉南端尽头处。
• The photo shows the enormous general Sherman tree in California's sequoia national park.照片显示的是加利福尼亚州红杉国家公园内巨大的谢尔曼将军树。

5 slivers   

（切割或断裂下来的）薄长条，碎片( sliver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Margret had eight slivers of glass removed from her cheek. 从玛格列特的脸颊取出了八片碎玻璃。
• Eight slivers are drawn together to produce the drawn sliver. 在末道并条机上，八根棉条并合在一起被牵伸成熟条。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句