Investors Threw 50% Less Money At Quantum Last Year (theregister.com) 32
Dan Robinson reports via The Register: Quantum companies received 50 percent less venture cap funding last year as investors switched to generative AI or shied away from risky bets on Silicon Valley startups. Progress in quantum computing is being made, but practical applications of the technology are still likely years away. Investment in quantum technology reached a high of $2.2 billion in 2022, as confidence (or hype) grew in this emerging market, but that funding fell to about $1.2 billion last year, according to the latest State of Quantum report, produced by The Quantum Insider, with quantum computing company IQM, plus VCs OpenOcean and Lakestar. The picture is even starker in the US, where there was an 80 percent decline in venture capital for quantum, while the APAC region dropped by 17 percent, and EMEA grew slightly by three percent.
But the report denies that we have reached a "quantum winter," comparable with the "AI winter" periods of scarce funding and little progress. Instead, the quantum industry continues to progress towards useful quantum systems, just at a slower pace, and the decline in funding must be seen as part of broader venture capital trends, it insists. "Calendar year 2023 was an interesting year with regards to quantum," Heather West, research manager for Quantum Computing, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms, and Technology at IDC told The Register. "With the increased interest in generative AI, we started to observe that some of the funding that was being invested into quantum was transferred to AI initiatives and companies. Generative AI was seen as the new disruptive technology which end users could use immediately to gain an advantage or value, whereas quantum, while expected to be a disruptive technology, is still very early in development," West told The Register.
Gartner Research vice president Matthew Brisse agreed. "It's due to the slight shift of CIO priorities toward GenAI. If organizations were spending 10 innovation dollars on quantum, now they are spending five. Not abandoning it, but looking at GenAI to provide value sooner to the organization than quantum," he told us. Meanwhile, venture capitalists in America are fighting shy of risky bets on Silicon Valley startups and instead keeping their powder dry as they look to more established technology companies or else shore up their existing portfolio of investments, according to the Financial Times.
But the report denies that we have reached a "quantum winter," comparable with the "AI winter" periods of scarce funding and little progress. Instead, the quantum industry continues to progress towards useful quantum systems, just at a slower pace, and the decline in funding must be seen as part of broader venture capital trends, it insists. "Calendar year 2023 was an interesting year with regards to quantum," Heather West, research manager for Quantum Computing, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms, and Technology at IDC told The Register. "With the increased interest in generative AI, we started to observe that some of the funding that was being invested into quantum was transferred to AI initiatives and companies. Generative AI was seen as the new disruptive technology which end users could use immediately to gain an advantage or value, whereas quantum, while expected to be a disruptive technology, is still very early in development," West told The Register.
Gartner Research vice president Matthew Brisse agreed. "It's due to the slight shift of CIO priorities toward GenAI. If organizations were spending 10 innovation dollars on quantum, now they are spending five. Not abandoning it, but looking at GenAI to provide value sooner to the organization than quantum," he told us. Meanwhile, venture capitalists in America are fighting shy of risky bets on Silicon Valley startups and instead keeping their powder dry as they look to more established technology companies or else shore up their existing portfolio of investments, according to the Financial Times.
"at Quantum" (Score:1)
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They are using "Quantum" as a mass noun for the quantum technology sector.
That's standard financial journalist jargon.
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That's because not enough money has shifted from "quantum" to "generative AI". Once it does, you'll begin to see properly constructed phrases.
Or not.
In other words...Re:"at Quantum" (Score:3)
That's because not enough money has shifted from "quantum" .......
So, in other words....
....In Quantum parlance it's called, "Schrödinger's Cap"
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Depends on the hermicity I guess.
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I am prepared to invest unlimited sums of my quantum-encrypted-blockcain-currency in your project as soon as the LLM finished spitting out the code.
Big Buck Investors Are Too Busy! (Score:1)
Yep. Big Buck Investors are too busy chasing the lure of the almighty $$
Just like that [NSFW] Nirvana album cover for NEVERMIND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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An NSFW warning on that is like finding someone checking ID at the zoo because the animals are naked. This isn’t a Disney kids forum.
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Zoos are for perverts!
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The copy I had was from Walmart and had the baby penis photoshopped out.
Quantum AI (Score:2)
Yeah. That's the ticket!
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Quantum AI is a real thing.
Quantum AI Lab [wikipedia.org]
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It's definitely a thing but in its current phase it is more imaginary than real.
So whoever figures out how to rotate it by 90 degrees stands to make a fortune?
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Not really. The size you would need is completely out of reach.
Quantum Blockchain... (Score:4, Funny)
Quantum blockchain - a distributed ledger where all transactions co-exist in superposition with their reversals. Now we're talkin' about some awesome accounting. Might have saved Theranos.
Combine all these... (Score:2, Funny)
...former tech fads:
A.I.
Blockchain
Crypto
Cloud computing
Self driving vehicles
Social media
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Quantum AI Blockchain. It won't fly, but investors only seem to like the shiny buzzwords anyhow.
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Quantum blockchain - a distributed ledger where all transactions co-exist in superposition with their reversals. Now we're talkin' about some awesome accounting. Might have saved Theranos.
I sadly have no mod points to give you, but this was a great post and I'm hoping someone else will do so.
Fluctuating investments (Score:2)
Kind of random, don't you think?
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Kind of random, don't you think?
Well we had no idea how much money was thrown until we looked, so it sounds quantum to me.
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Not really random, "investing" operates exactly like fashion, this summer's TV blockbuster theme or, if you wish, like mineshaft gap elimination.
There is always a current hot bandwagon on which to jump, on which sit those who make the loudest noise, a bunch ahead of it and many, many behind it.
Please come over, listen to the merry-making and hop on.
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Yep, kind of like clumps of quarks.
QCs, crapto, LLMs, ... seriously? (Score:2)
We seem to have reached "peak demented hype" now.
Probably not a good idea (Score:2)
given all the uncertainty surrounding it.
Was it really 50% less money? (Score:3)
Or was the amount changed because we observed it?
Prediction (Score:3)
We will see this very same post, in a couple of years, only with Quantum replaced by AI. Just wait.
Time to throw more at AI (Score:3)