经济学人下载:量子计算机蕴藏的商机(2)

For most of the field's history, quantum-computing research has been backed by governments or big information-technology firms. 

纵观该领域的历史，量子计算研究大部分时间都是政府或大型信息技术企业在推动。

Increasingly, though, the venture-capital (vc) industry is showing an interest. 

尽管如此，风险投资(Vc)行业也对这一领域表现出了越来越浓的兴趣。

PitchBook, a research firm based in Seattle, 

总部位于西雅图的研究机构PitchBook

has tracked $495m of vc money that has been invested in quantum computing so far this year— 

追踪的结果显示，今年以来，量子计算领域已经收到了4.95亿美元的风投资金——

almost double last year's total. 

几乎是去年总额的两倍。

Dozens of startups are competing with the incumbent tech giants. 

还有数十家初创企业向当前的科技巨头发起了竞争。

And established companies, such as Daimler, a carmaker, and Goldman Sachs, a bank, 

老牌公司，如汽车制造商戴姆勒和高盛银行，

are beginning to experiment with the nascent industry's products, 

已经开始试水这一新兴行业的各种产品，

hoping that, if they can master them, they will bestow an advantage over their competitors. 

希望掌握了这些产品就能比各自的竞争对手抢先一步占据优势。

Much of the money is going towards building hardware. 

大部分资金都流向了打造硬件方面。

Doug Finke, a physicist who runs the Quantum Computing Report, which focuses on the nascent industry, 

道格·芬克，物理学家兼《量子计算报告》——一份专注于量子计算这一新兴行业动态的刊物——创刊人，

is aware of 87 organisations, big and small, trying to construct quantum computers.

就他了解，有87个大大小小的机构都在着手组建量子计算机。

Unlike classical computing, which had settled by the 1970s on silicon transistors as the units of computation, 

与上世纪70年代就已基本定型的以硅晶体管为计算单位的经典计算不同的是，

there is, as yet, no consensus on the best way to build a quantum computer. 

到目前为止，就搭建量子计算机的最佳方式这一问题的共识依然有待达成。

IonQ, a firm in Maryland that has raised $84m, 

位于马里兰州的IonQ公司已经筹集到8400万美元，

uses trapped ytterbium ions, manipulated by lasers, to perform its calculations. 

通过使用被捕获的，激光操控的镱离子进行量子计算。

Rigetti Computing, a Californian company which announced earlier this month 

位于加州，并于本月初宣布，

that it would be building a quantum computer for the British government, 

将为英国政府搭建一台量子计算机的（量子计算初创企业）Rigetti Computing

employs microwaves to control pairs of electrons flowing through superconducting circuits. 

则是利用微波来控制流经超导电路的电子对。

Microsoft, although very much not a startup, 

微软，尽管算不上一家初创公司，

is working on a "topological" quantum computer that relies on the interactions of super-cold electrons. 

也在研究一种依赖于超冷电子之间的相互作用的“拓扑”量子计算机。

One particularly well-financed new firm is PsiQuantum, 

另外一家资金格外充裕的量子计算初创企业是PsiQuantum，

which does its computing with photons that run along waveguides etched onto ordinary silicon chips. 

该公司研究的则是利用依靠蚀刻在普通硅片上的波导的光子进行量子计算。

It hopes to leapfrog the NISQ era entirely and produce a fully fledged quantum computer within about five years— 

希望能借此完全跳过NISQ时代，将搭建一台完全成熟的量子计算机的时间控制在五年之内——

though that is far sooner than most experts think feasible. 

尽管大部分专家都认为实际所需的时间会远长于五年。

PsiQuantum was founded in 2015 by researchers from Imperial College and the University of Bristol, both in Britain. 

PsiQuantum创立于2015年，创始人均为来自英国帝国理工学院和布里斯托尔大学的研究人员。

It has raised $215m from backers including Black-Rock, a giant investment firm, 

目前，该公司已经从巨型投资公司黑石，

and the Founders Fund, an American vc company that was an early investor in SpaceX and Facebook. 

美国风投公司，SpaceX和Facebook的原始投资方“创始人基金”等支持者处筹集到了2.15亿美元。