BUILDING THE WORLD'S FIRST QUANTUM COMPUTER

Quantum technology is the next big thing - and Amanda Chew, VP of Quantum Horizon, is leading the charge by developing the world's first commercial quantum hardware.

- Chelsia Tan

Imagine a world powered by computers so advanced that these super devices could handle a quadrillion tasks simultaneously.

Major tech companies are racing to lead in quantum computing, with Google recently unveiling anew chip that it claims can solve a problem in five minutes — one that would take the world’s fastest computers 10 septillion years to complete.

Closer to home, one Singapore-based deep-tech company could soon revolutionise the efficiency of big data processing.

Horizon Quantum Computing is developing the world’s first commercial quantum hardware, and Amanda Chew, VP of Product, is leading the product vision, strategy, research, design, and development of tools for programming quantum computers. An early preview of the software, Triple Alpha, was released to selected users in 2023.

“We're building a new generation of programming tools to simplify and accelerate software development for quantum computers. Our work includes compilers and a runtime environment that extends the capabilities of today quantum computers, laying the foundation for the world’s first quantum operating system,” she shares.

Simply put, while both classical and quantum computers tap on quantum technology — which uses quantum mechanics, a field of physics that studies matter and energy at a subatomic level - to operate, classical computers are limited to exploring one solution at a time, whereas quantum computers can process multiple solutions simultaneously.

Horizon Quantum, which was established in 2018 and has offices in Singapore and Dublin, aims to make creating applications for quantum hardware accessible for software developers with programming tools that remove the need for prior quantum computing experience.

The 33-year-old is one of the few women leaders in deep tech who is helping to bridge the gap between quantum theory and real-world applications.