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Research Outline

Prepared for Phoebe S. | Delivered September 14, 2020

Quantum Computing Competitive Analysis

Goals

Provide a competitive analysis between IonQ, Rigetti, Amazon focused on their quantum computing services. Specifically, for each company, describe their value proposition, a review of their quantum computing business (stage, partnerships, key achievements), any patents they hold related to quantum computing, the key audience for their quantum computing activities, key marketing messages related the quantum computing and their marketing tactics to reach this audience (e.g., social channels, blogs, webinars, hackathons, marketing videos).

Early Findings

IonQ

  •  IonQ is a quantum computing company providing the computing power for Microsoft's Azure Quantum cloud computing platform.
  • IonQ has raised a total of $82 million in three funding rounds, most recently a second round of series B funding in June 2020.
  • The company was founded in 2015 and has since grown rapidly, with funding from leading companies such as GV, Amazon Web Services, NEA, Samsung and Mubadala, and partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
  • IonQ's value proposition centers around their quantum cores, which "use lasers pointed at individual atoms to perform longer, more sophisticated calculations with fewer errors than any quantum computer yet built."
  • One of the key marketing messages of IonQ is that they are working to "solve the world's hardest problems." 

Rigetti

  •  Rigetti is focused on providing quantum computing on the cloud.
  • Rigetti was founded in 2013 and has raised $198.5 million to date, most recently in a series C funding round in early August 2020.
  • Rigetti recently announced plans to build the first commercial quantum computer in the UK, with the goal of providing a computer that can help "researchers and businesses to unleash new opportunities promised by quantum computing in industries ranging from finance and pharmaceuticals to aerospace and transportation."
  • Rigetti is known for their product Forest, "the world’s first full-stack programming and execution environment for quantum/classical computing."
  • They also focus on the marketing message of using quantum computing to "solve the world’s most important and pressing problems."

Amazon

  •  Amazon has multiple avenues for quantum computing, including Amazon Braket, the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, and the Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab.
  • Amazon Braket is a "fully managed service that allows scientists, researchers, and developers to begin experimenting with computers from multiple quantum hardware providers in a single place."
  • The AWS Center for Quantum Computing is a research center in partnership with the California Institute of Technology focused on uniting "the world’s leading quantum computing researchers and engineers in order to accelerate development of quantum computing hardware and software."
  • The Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab is focused on "connect[ing] AWS customers with quantum computing experts from Amazon and a very select set of consulting partners."
  • Amazon is offering the access to quantum computers through partnerships with D-Wave Systems, IonQ, and Rigetti Computing.