发实用量子计算机的英国初创公司从多家投资者处筹集了1亿美元，其中包括新加坡政府基金以及Roblox Corp首席执行官戴维·巴祖基。
A British startup seeking to build a working quantum computer has raised $100 million from a range of investors, including a Singapore government fund and Roblox Corp. Chief Executive Officer David Baszucki.
该公司周四在一份声明中表示，Universal Quantum将利用这一A轮融资在德国和新加坡扩建其研究中心。投资机构DCVC和Firgun Ventures共同主导了本轮融资，新加坡政府投资公司EDBI、巴祖基及其他投资者也参与其中。
Universal Quantum will use the Series A financing to expand research hubs in Germany and Singapore, it said in a statement Thursday. Investment firm DCVC and Firgun Ventures co-led the round, with participation from Singapore’s EDBI, Baszucki and others.
Universal Quantum首席执行官塞巴斯蒂安·韦德特表示，投资者阵容“旨在尽可能具备全球性和主权多样性，与我们希望更活跃的地区保持一致”。他拒绝透露公司的估值。
The investor base is “meant to be as global and sovereign as possible, aligning where we’d like to be more active,” Universal Quantum CEO Sebastian Weidt said. He declined to share the company’s valuation.
Universal Quantum是众多初创公司和企业实验室中的一部分，这些机构正努力制造能够解决传统计算机无法处理的新问题的机器，这可能在医学和金融等领域带来突破。随着量子技术逐渐接近实用化应用，近期已有数家量子科技公司上市。各大银行也聘请了该领域的专家，各国政府则正在投资这一可能打破现有在线数据加密标准的行业。然而，目前量子计算机主要用于研究。
Universal Quantum is among a wave of startups and corporate labs striving to create new machines capable of solving problems classical computers can’t, potentially leading to breakthroughs in fields like medicine and finance. Several quantum firms have gone public recently as the technology moves closer to useful applications. Major banks have hired experts in the technology, and governments are investing in the sector that has the potential to break existing encryption standards that protect data online. Still, quantum machines currently are mainly used for research.
今年5月，美国同意向开发量子计算机和芯片的公司投资20亿美元。今年早些时候，英国政府承诺在未来四年内投入10亿英镑（约合13亿美元）用于该技术。
In May, the US agreed to invest $2 billion into companies developing quantum computers and chips. Earlier in the year, the UK government pledged to spend £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on the tech over the next four years.
Universal Quantum已赢得德国政府委托的计算机开发合同。韦德特是这家初创公司的联合创始人，其灵感源于他在英国苏塞克斯大学的研究。他表示，公司在最新一轮融资中并未获得英国政府的支持。
Universal Quantum has won contracts to develop computers for the German government. Weidt, who co-founded the startup from research at England’s University of Sussex, said the company didn’t get UK public support in the latest funding round. Weidt said Universal Quantum’s current commercial strategy operates like a consultant, where his engineers help public agencies and businesses prepare to run software on the startup’s computers once they are functional.
韦德特称，Universal Quantum目前的商业策略类似于咨询公司：其工程师会帮助政府机构和企业在该初创公司的计算机投入运行后，为其准备相应的软件。他拒绝透露公司的收入数据。
He decline to share revenue figures. Universal Quantum is backing a trapped-ion system, which uses suspended charged atoms and lasers to perform quantum calculations.
Universal Quantum 正在支持一种囚禁离子系统，该系统利用悬浮的带电原子和激光器进行量子计算。其部分竞争对手，包括谷歌和微软公司，正在建造使用超导材料制成的处理器的大型机器。Weidt 表示，他的方法是在最小错误率下制造出可靠实用计算机的最佳途径。
Some of its competitors, including Google and Microsoft Corp., are building larger machines that use processors made from superconducting materials. Weidt said his approach offers the best way to create a dependable working computer with minimal errors. Weidt expects to build a useful working quantum computer within the next decade, although he declined to give a precise date.
Weidt 预计在未来十年内能造出一台实用的量子计算机，但他拒绝给出具体日期。“制造这些机器非常困难，”他说，“没有人能够完全规划出这一过程。”
“It’s hard to build these machines,” he said. “No one can map this out.”