IonQ Co-Founders Named to New National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IonQ, the leader in quantum computing, today announced that both Professor Jungsang Kim, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, and Professor Christopher Monroe, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, have been named to the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC). Created by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Committee's goal is to ensure continued American leadership in quantum information science (QIS).

The appointment is a recognition of Kim and Monroe's pioneering work in the quantum computing field and comes at a time when investing in quantum computing technology is more important than ever. IonQ's trapped-ion quantum computers have demonstrated unmatched ability, demonstrating performance benchmarks that no other quantum computer has been able to match. IonQ is the only entity with more than one representative on the committee.

"Quantum technology is rapidly advancing across industry and academia, with exciting new developments happening almost weekly," said Kim. "I am humbled to serve on the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. Together, we will push quantum technology forward to realize the near and long-term impact of quantum computing." 

"I look forward to continuing to counsel the US government on a national approach to quantum computing," said Monroe. "The field has come a long way since we demonstrated the first successful quantum logic gate in the 1990's and I am excited about what's just over the horizon."

"Having both of IonQ's co-founders on the Committee is validation of the deep technical and academic expertise our firm possesses," said IonQ CEO and President Peter Chapman. "Chris and Jungsang are two of quantum's foremost experts and will provide unmatched counsel to the US government at this inflection point for quantum computing."

This announcement follows the recent general availability announcement of IonQ's systems on the AWS Braket quantum cloud. IonQ is also the only quantum provider also available on the Microsoft Azure Quantum cloud. The firm recently raised additional Series B funding, bringing total funding to date to $84M. IonQ's investors include Amazon, NEA, GV, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Mubadala Capital, Airbus, HPE, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), Lockheed Martin, Cambium and more.

About IonQ
IonQ is the leader in quantum computing. By making our quantum hardware accessible through the cloud, we're empowering millions of organizations and developers to build new applications to solve the world's most complex problems in business, and across society. IonQ's unique approach to quantum computing is to start with nature: using individual atoms as the heart of our quantum processing units. We levitate them in space with electric potentials applied to semiconductor-defined electrodes on a chip, and then use lasers to do everything from initial preparation to final readout and the quantum gate operations in between. It requires atomic physics, precision optical and mechanical engineering, and fine-grained firmware control over a variety of components. Leveraging this approach, IonQ provides both a viable technological roadmap to scale and the flexibility necessary to explore a wide range of application spaces in the near term. IonQ was founded in 2015 by Jungsang Kim and Christopher Monroe and their systems are based on foundational research at The University of Maryland and Duke University.

SOURCE IonQ