Venture with Grace
00:46:00 · Juha Vartiainen
[00:46:00] S1: It's very difficult to predict in this rapid change, but I think what we see around us in Finland, there are like 140 data centers under construction. As I said, the power consumption of the whole country is going to grow like 40% in coming years. So I think that's a huge megatrend. The AI is going to get big. And I think Quantum is kind of a little cousin of AI in that sense that, let's say, it will have a growing number of useful applications and use cases. And let's say, this success of AI will leak to some part of the quantum. And I'm quite confident that the future of the quantum will be also very bright and growing. There's a lot to do in developing quantum computer to, let's say, do the fault tolerant era and developing all the technology that it needs. So that will be a long road. It doesn't necessarily happen immediately. But there are like now a lot of money behind it, a lot of, let's say, best minds working on it. And let's say, we start to see, let's say, some kind of consolidation also this field. So some companies getting IPO ed, getting bigger, growing and consolidating. There's some MMAs. So some companies growing and becoming winners, starting to deliver more and more. The quantum computer is becoming more powerful and then delivering to those growing numbers of data centers and, let's say, starting to bring the benefit of hybrid algorithms integrated to the HPC and AI. So I see there like a continuum of development, which is very, very kind of suitable for Quantum.
00:48:05 · Grace Gong
[00:48:05] S0: I guess when we're talking about AI and Quantum and we talk about the talent perspective. From the product perspective, do you feel beyond Quantum Computers, is there any other, whether it's like physical AI or like physical quantum stuff like quantum phone? Like, is there any other format of things are going to happen? And like in the current climate, like I think we had like maybe one quantum investor on our show. And I'm curious, what exactly is the landscape look like? Is there everybody in the PhD system started building quantum right now? It's kind of like the new AI era. Or how do you think like, is there going to be more people coming out of the woods to build in quantum? And then will the quantum computer space be like super competitive? Like, I feel like it's kind of like you require a ton of capital all the time, but compared to the AI era, obviously people are pouring money into AI. So it's not necessarily the money thing, but I guess how do you think about the ecosystem going to kind of evolve?
00:49:11 · Juha Vartiainen
[00:49:11] S1: Yeah, so there are also other technologies. Let's say that there are many kinds of quantum computing. It's a lot of modalities. We are betting, of course, the superconducting ones, but then there are also some interesting other ones. So let's say that in coming years we will see which of the technologies will be the winners and will be there more than one of those ones. And then in quantum, you can do computing as we are doing now, but there are also possibilities to do something else that's more, let's say, longer topic, but you can do much more with quantum technology, also with these quantum computers. But then on top of that, there is quantum communication and sensing. So actually quantum sensing, for example, for the defense purposes is nowadays very interesting. So that might alone become a big one. And that's like one interesting thing. And one interesting development is that once the, let's say, the quantum chips are being manufactured in commercial scale. They are becoming like a foundries for quantum chips. So they are now only small volume production. So the prices will go down and the quality will go up and the complexity and the chips become more powerful. That actually might enable a completely new type of computing. And that's very interesting to see where it leads. So let's say we are now struggling still with this kind of, let's say, pilot scale, let's say early stage quantum computer. But once we are probably scaled and this becomes like a proper industry, are like a lot of things are probably different. And I'm confident that like, okay, there will be some maybe smaller number of quantum computer providers nowadays, like a computer chip provider. So that probably won't be such a big number, and I don't expect necessarily very many new ones coming there. But where there's a lot of room is, of course, the software and application space. So probably once we develop easier to use quantum computers, like higher level programming languages, maybe the AIs, let's say, start to help to develop the quantum software. Maybe some cloud can develop new quantum algorithms, which are more powerful for new use cases. So I think like maybe there is much more space for growth. So there will be maybe 100 times, maybe 1,000 times more companies than today in quantum application space.
00:52:09 · Juha Vartiainen, Grace Gong
And nowadays, like AI makes it possible even like a one man company or one woman company to start developing something new in, let's say, software space. So if you are capable enough, you can do a lot with AI alone. So would say that there is, let's say, this quantum software company's fear will look very different after a few years. [00:52:35] S0: I want to do a quick one minute firearm for you. What's your favorite book? [00:52:43] S1: Excuse me? [00:52:44] S0: What's your favorite book? [00:52:46] S1: Favorite book? I don't know. [00:52:51] S0: Who would you invite to your dinner party? [00:52:59] S1: Invite. Elon Musk might be interesting one to discuss. [00:53:05] S0: He's very popular. Try after me on my show. Who made the biggest impact in your career? [00:53:16] S1: My fighter. [00:53:19] S0: Where can we find you outside of work? [00:53:30] S1: You can find me in the garden. So I have now a new garden, and I'm doing a lot of gardening nowadays. [00:53:37] S0: Gardening? [00:53:38] S1: You mean after work. So, yeah. So I have a new house and at the moment, I'm planning on a new lot of plants there for the next spring. [00:53:49] S0: Okay. What's the vegetable or like fruit that you're planting right now? [00:53:57] S1: I have several apple trees now. [00:53:59] S0: Oh, you have several apple tree? That's crazy. I love that. I love that for you. Well, Juha, thank you so much for coming on the show today. It was such a fun conversation about everything quantum. [00:54:10] S1: Thanks, Grace. It was nice to talk with you. [00:54:14] S0: Let me quick