BC Business
At the heart of a D-Wave computer is a tangle of wires suspended from the ceiling, passing through a tiered series of copper disks, and culminating in copper plate where the chip will be housed. The trick is keeping the whole thing at -273 degrees CelsiuInside a D-Wave computer is a tangle of wires suspended from the ceiling, culminating in copper plate where the chip will be housed. The trick is keeping the whole thing at a constant -273 degrees Celsius.
D-Wave Systems Inc., manufacturer of quantum computers, last week unveiled its new research and manufacturing facility in Burnaby. The 42,000-square-foot site replaces D-Wave’s previous 18,000 square-foot facility, also in Burnaby. Joining D-Wave co-founder and chief technology officer Geordie Rose at the ribbon-cutting were president and CEO Vern Brownell; Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services Andrew Wilkinson; and Paul Lee, managing partner of Vanedge Capital, former president of Electronic Arts and chair of the D-Wave board. As Rose explained at the opening ceremony, the basis of quantum physics is as much philosophical as physical, involving the potential of multiple universes. Whereas classical computers make calculations by manipulating bits of one and zero, quantum computers recognize three possibilities: one, zero or both at the same time. The physicist and former UBC commerce student asked visitors to recall choices they had made in their lives, then posited that the paths not taken may be no less real than those taken. “The shadows of these parallel universes actually touch inside that box,” Rose said, referring to D-Wave’s computers. Questions of philosophy aside, some of the world’s biggest science and technology organizations have paid to put D-Wave computers to work. So far the company has installed two computers: one for Lockheed Martin Corp., at the University of Southern California campus; and one for a joint venture involving NASA and Google Inc. at a NASA research centre in California. An off-the-shelf D-Wave computer would cost $15 million. However, according to its business plan D-Wave is more a service provider than a hardware manufacturer. While an outright sale is an option, the company more typically leases its computers for three-to-five-year terms and provides the expertise needed to install, program and maintain them, as well as to train clients in using the computers. Two partially completed quantum computers were on display at last week’s facility opening. The core of a D-Wave computer is very simple: a chip that looks similar to those at the heart of a traditional computer. The rest of the computer is much simpler than a traditional computer; there is no circuit board, and no hard drive. However, a quantum chip needs to operate at near absolute zero, or -273 degrees Celsius, and it has to be shielded from magnetic fields that occur naturally. The partially completed computers resemble a walk-in fridge, with a tangle of wires suspended from the ceiling, passing through a tiered series of copper disks, and culminating in copper plate about six inches high by four inches wide. That plate is where the chip will be housed. In explaining the benefits of the new facility, D-Wave chief operating officer Warren Wall explained that not only is it bigger than D-Wave’s previous premises, but it came with a one-megawatt turbine backup generator and a water cooling system. Both are essential to keep the computers running without interruption.