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  • 🔵 The Quantum Insider Weekly | A Big Quantum Convergence. New From Big Blue. And More News in Quantum

🔵 The Quantum Insider Weekly | A Big Quantum Convergence. New From Big Blue. And More News in Quantum

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FROM THE EDITOR.

Welcome to another issue of The Quantum Insider Weekly.

This week, we’ll take a deeper dive into Novo Holdings quantum strategy. We suspect that there’s not just A statement about the future of quantum, but a BUNCH of statements on:

  • Quantum in Denmark

  • Quantum in Europe

  • And quantum as an important enabling technology for tomorrow’s cures and scientific advances.

We also are closely following an IBM update — the company releases new information quantum processors, software, and algorithms. They say Big Blue Q is poised to achieve quantum advantage by 2026 — and fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2029. With most companies suggesting the achievement of quantum advantage by the end of the decade, next yea is both optimistic — and ambitious. Whether this means a more general quantum advantage or a few specific examples, we’ll have to see.

Lots of news to keep your eye on in the coming weeks and months.

Have a great weekend!

— Matt, Chief Content Officer at The Quantum Insider

Driving Prosperity through Innovation - World Strategic Forum 2025

Join global leaders and innovators at the World Strategic Forum 2025, November 24–25 at the Loews Coral Gables Hotel, Miami. Explore the latest in quantum technologies, fintech, infrastructure, and global trade, with thought leaders like Matthew Cimaglia (Quantum Coast Capital) and Niccolo de Masi (IonQ).

Don’t miss “Decoding Quantum: A Conversation on the Next Tech Revolution” â€” a deep dive into how quantum computing is transforming industries from logistics to finance.

Secure your spot today and connect with the minds shaping tomorrow: worldstrategicforum.com

INSIDER BRIEF.

ANALYST NOTES.

The Noteworthy & Nuanced

This week is highlighted by national quantum advancements. Starting with Singapore, its National Quantum Office and Quantinuum have partnered to advance the country’s quantum ecosystem. Quantinuum’s first Helios quantum computer outside the US (!) will be delivered to Singapore in 2026, along with the company opening a new R&D and Operations Centre in the country.

Meanwhile DARPA has advanced 11 companies to Stage B of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a transition from conceptual proposals to rigorous validation of utility-scale quantum architectures. This stage will involve evaluating each company’s technical roadmaps, risk mitigation, and prototype plans to assess scalability and realism. All in pursuit of determining whether a quantum computer whose computational value exceeds its cost can be achieved by 2033.

Canada’s 2025 federal budget commits C$334.3M over five years to strengthen the nation’s quantum technology ecosystem as part of its new Defence Industrial Strategy. Managed by ISED, NRC, and NSERC, the funding targets both foundational research and industry-driven innovation. Part of a broader C$6.6B initiative for defense modernization, Canada is pushing to integrate quantum, AI, and cybersecurity into its national innovation and security framework. — Alan Kanapin, Analyst at The Quantum Insider

The Research Rundown

Check out this week’s handpicked quantum research. These are studies headed for real-world impact: improving accuracy, reducing latency, using fewer resources, or solving problems that classical methods struggle with. These are early developments, but they hint at where quantum might earn its keep.

Want more research insights? Get them delivered straight to your inbox Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with The Daily Qubit. Subscribe below or use the link to update preferences at the end of this email. 👇️

The Quantum World Tour will spotlight Saudi Arabia on November 18, 2025, highlighting how the Kingdom is rapidly advancing quantum science through national strategy, research leadership at KAUST, and industry investment from companies like Saudi Aramco.

This 90-minute online episode features an ecosystem briefing, expert panel, startup showcase, and workforce discussion with leaders across Saudi Arabia’s quantum landscape. As one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is linking research, talent, and industry to build a sustainable quantum future.

Read more and register here to attend Quantum World Tour: Saudi Arabia.

➡️ Novo Holdings has committed €188 million to quantum technologies, expanding beyond its biotech roots to position Denmark and the Nordics as a hub for next-generation computing and sensing.
➡️ Backed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the plan includes new infrastructure such as a Level 2 quantum computer by Atom Computing and Microsoft in 2026 and a long-term goal to reach full fault-tolerant Level 3 systems for life-science and climate modeling.
➡️ The Quantum Investments team, launched in 2024, represents one of Europe’s largest private commitments to quantum technology and aims to connect Nordic research and industry through coordinated public–private partnerships.
➡️ Portfolio investments include Sparrow Quantum, Phasecraft, Quantonation, and 55 North, spanning hardware, algorithms, and venture capital to build a full-stack European quantum ecosystem.
➡️ Novo’s strategy emphasizes “deep convergence,” aligning quantum with artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and sustainability to accelerate use cases in drug discovery, materials design, and environmental monitoring.
➡️ With Denmark as its center of gravity, the initiative strengthens Europe’s position in the global quantum mix, offering a model for integrated innovation that is both geographically cohesive and commercially aligned.

Analyst Commentary

Novo Holdings’ new €188 million commitment marks an inflection point for Europe’s quantum ambitions — and arguably for how quantum innovation is financed.
The Copenhagen-based investor, best known as the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, is re-casting itself as a cornerstone in the continent’s quantum economy, using the same patient-capital model that made Denmark a global biotech power.

The company’s 2025 Quantum Investments Annual Review makes one thing clear: quantum will not live in isolation. Novo’s thesis centers on (what I have termed) deep convergence — the fusion of quantum technologies with artificial intelligence, life sciences, and sustainability applications. It’s a concept that shifts the conversation from hardware races to ecosystem architecture, where quantum becomes an enabling layer for other industries rather than a standalone pursuit.

Building Denmark’s Quantum Economy

With Denmark as its center of gravity, Novo Holdings is anchoring a coordinated Nordic quantum strategy. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has pledged €267 million to develop a Level 3, fault-tolerant quantum computer for life-science applications, while the QuNorth initiative — co-funded with Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund — will deploy a commercially accessible Level 2 system by 2026.

That hardware, built by Atom Computing and Microsoft and codenamed Magne, will give researchers access to tens of logical qubits — a significant leap toward stable, error-corrected computing within Europe’s borders. Complementing it is the Quantum Foundry Copenhagen, which will provide superconducting and neutral-atom fabrication capabilities.

Convergence as Strategy

Novo Holdings’ portfolio reveals how deeply this convergence is already being built into Europe’s innovation fabric.

  • Sparrow Quantum in Denmark scales single-photon sources for computing and sensing.

  • Phasecraft in the U.K. develops high-efficiency quantum algorithms for materials, energy, and pharmaceuticals.

  • Quantonation II in France and 55 North in Denmark provide venture capital pipelines for quantum start-ups globally.

This mix mirrors Novo’s approach in life sciences: blending direct equity with fund-level investments to nurture a complete ecosystem. It also highlights how quantum’s earliest commercial use cases — drug design, molecular simulation, materials discovery, and environmental modeling — align closely with Novo’s core mission of advancing human and planetary health.

The company’s convergence thesis also reframes how quantum progress should be measured. Rather than waiting for a universal, all-purpose machine, Novo Holdings is betting that early, use-case-specific quantum advantage will emerge through hybrid applications in AI and biotech — where quantum processors augment classical and machine-learning systems already deployed in labs and industries.

It’s a pragmatic approach: focus capital where quantum computation can make the biggest near-term difference, and let those successes compound into broader adoption.

For Denmark and Europe, that strategy represents more than just another investment cycle. It signals a shift from quantum as an academic field to quantum as an industrial capability — embedded in the region’s digital, health, and sustainability agendas.

The takeaway for us is that quantum’s next chapter won’t be written in isolation. It will be shaped by how nations, investors and industries align their deep-tech ambitions. Novo Holdings’ quantum portfolio suggests Denmark intends not merely to participate in that alignment — but to define it.

DATA SPOTLIGHT.

PacketLight Networks and NEC demonstrated quantum key distribution over a 400G dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network using a dual-fiber setup. They integrated NEC’s QKD system with PacketLight’s PL-4000M 600G Muxponder, achieving 100% data throughput and low latency, verified via a 100GbE tester. The QKD ran over a dedicated parallel fiber, maintaining quantum signal integrity. The result: a cost-effective, scalable quantum-safe model with zero performance tradeoffs on existing high-capacity infrastructure.

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS.

🖥️ IBM announced major advances across hardware, software, and fabrication, including the 120-qubit Nighthawk processor, new Qiskit capabilities, and the experimental Loon processor as part of its roadmap to demonstrate quantum advantage by 2026 and build a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. The updates introduce higher-complexity circuits, real-time error decoding, expanded HPC integration, and a shift to 300 mm wafer fabrication.

🔗 Q-CTRL’s Fire Opal software has been integrated into RIKEN’s IBM Quantum System Two as part of Japan’s JHPC-quantum project, enabling over 1,000× improvements in accuracy and efficiency for hybrid quantum-HPC workloads. The deployment supports dozens of research teams in chemistry, machine learning, and physics.

🛰️ IonQ plans to acquire Skyloom Global to extend its quantum networking and QKD capabilities across ground and orbital systems, building on a rapid series of acquisitions in computing, networking, and sensing.

💰️ Aquark Technologies has received a £1.4 million Innovate UK contract to deploy its compact cold atom-based atomic clock, AQlock, at a major UK telecommunications site by March 2026. The project will demonstrate GNSS-independent quantum timing for resilient national infrastructure.

🏙️ Related Midwest and Clayco Real Estate Group have acquired 128 acres at Chicago’s former U.S. Steel South Works site to build the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. The first phase, spanning 30 acres and set for completion in 2027, will include a cryogenic cooling plant, research labs, and collaborative spaces for academia and industry.

🚀 Equal1 has been selected by the European Space Agency to install its Bell-1 Hybrid Quantum Computing System at ESA’s Φ-lab under the Quantum Computing for Earth Observation initiative. The collaboration marks the first quantum computer hosted at ESA, enabling hybrid quantum-classical processing.

🔗 IonQ and the University of Chicago have announced a strategic partnership to create the IonQ Center for Engineering and Science, featuring a next-generation quantum computer and an entanglement distribution network on campus. The collaboration will advance research in quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security while generating IP that feeds directly into IonQ’s commercial roadmap.

🤝 A consortium led by HPE and Qolabhas launched the Quantum Scaling Alliance, a global initiative uniting eight organizations including 1QBit, Applied Materials, Quantum Machines, Riverlane, Synopsys, and the University of Wisconsin to develop a cost-effective, industry-scale quantum supercomputer.

🖥️ IQM Quantum Computers has introduced IQM Halocene, a new open and modular on-premises product line designed for quantum error-correction research, starting with a 150-qubit system available in 2026 and future models planned to exceed 1,000 qubits.

🇬🇧 Quantum Exponential Group has launched fundraising for a £100 million venture fund to accelerate UK quantum commercialization, aligning with the National Quantum Strategy and partnerships across the Harwell Quantum Cluster. The fund will invest from pre-seed to scale-up, with two-thirds directed to UK companies.

🇩🇰 Microsoft has expanded its Lyngby, Denmark quantum facility into its largest global quantum site, investing more than DKK 1 billion to advance fabrication of its topological “Majorana 1” qubit chip designed to scale to millions of qubits.

🤖 Haiqu demonstrated that today’s quantum processors can encode high-dimensional data at unprecedented scale, over 500 features across 128 qubits on IBM’s Quantum Heron, enabling faster preprocessing and improved anomaly-detection accuracy compared to classical baselines.

💰️ Classiq has raised tens of millions of dollars in a new round bringing total funding above $200 million with strategic backing from AMD, Qualcomm Ventures, IonQ, and major financial institutions.

🤝 SDT has joined the QuEra Quantum Alliance, combining its full-stack quantum design and manufacturing capabilities with QuEra’s leadership in neutral-atom systems to accelerate industrial deployment and global collaboration.

📜 Google’s Quantum AI team introduced a five-stage framework for developing useful quantum applications, emphasizing that the biggest gaps now lie not in hardware but in the middle stages of the pipeline by identifying hard problem instances and demonstrating real-world advantage.

🇨🇦 Prompt and QV Studio launched a new funding program in Quebec that will provide up to $50,000 per early-stage quantum project and $250,000 in total to support proof-of-concept research through universities and public research centers. T

🚀 SBQuantum secured a new $1M USD contract from the European Space Agency to deliver an upgraded quantum diamond magnetometer for Earth Observation missions, offering higher sensitivity, accuracy, and bandwidth in the same compact form factor.

EVENTS.

Nov. 15- 18 -- BIG Quantum Hackathon, Qatar 2025, Minaretein, Education City,. Doha, Qatar.

Nov. 16-21 -- SuperComputing 2025 (SC25) will be held n St. Louis, USA. SC25 is an international conference for high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis.

Nov. 24-25 -- World Strategic Forum is an international conference organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA). The 14th edition of the World Strategic Forum will be held at the Loews Coral Gables Hotel in Miami, Florida, presented by Integra Capital.

Dec. 1-4 -- QUEST-IS 2025 Quantum Engineering Sciences and Technologies for Industry and Services From Quantum Engineering to Applications for Citizens. EDF Lab, Paris-Saclay, France.

Dec. 3-5 -- Quantum Education Summit 2025 will advance accessible, inclusive quantum education through keynotes, workshops, and a collaborative white paper on workforce development and policy alignment.

Dec. 9-11 -- Q2B 2025 Silicon Valley Q2B is back for the eighth year in a row, connecting the international quantum community computing ecosystems. The event will feature top academics, industry end users, government representatives and quantum computing vendors from all over the world.

Dec. 17-18 -- Science Diplomacy - Bridging divides in a fragmented world will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference explores how science diplomacy can bridge divides and promote innovation, competitiveness, and international cooperation.

January 27 and 28, 2026 -- Qubits 2026 D-Wave is bringing its annual user conference, Qubits, to Boca Raton, Florida. The event will be held at The Boca Raton resort.

April 27-30 -- The Quantum Matter International Conference & Expo (QUANTUMatter2026) will take place at the BarcelĂł Sants Hotel in Barcelona. The conference to foster the incubation of new ideas & collaborations at the forefront of quantum technologies, emerging quantum materials and novel generations of quantum communication protocols, quantum sensing and quantum simulation.

June 22-24 -- IQT Nordics: Oslo, Norway

June 24-26 -- Quantum. Tech World: Boston, Mass