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Christian Weedbrook, a film school dropout turned CEO of Xanadu Quantum Technologies, was minted a billionaire in a matter of days thanks to Nvidia endorsing quantum computing as the future of AI.<\/p>\n
Last week, Nvidia announced Ising, a family of open-source quantum AI models promising to address major bottlenecks in quantum computing, particularly in calibration and error correction. By addressing barriers to growing quantum processing as part of AI infrastructure expansion, Nvidia gave credibility to quantum computing as the future of AI expansion.<\/p>\n
Following the announcement, Xanadu\u2019s stock rallied about 250% to a peak of $32.67 per share. With a 15.6% stake in the company, Weedbrook\u2019s net worth skyrocketed to $1.5 billion within five days of the announcement, according to Bloomberg which cited market data and regulatory filings. Xanadu\u2019s share price has since come back to Earth, but remains more than double its original valuation prior to the announcement.<\/p>\n
How Xanadu became a quantum computing giant<\/p>\n
Founded in 2016 by Weedbrook, Xanadu is working to build the first quantum data center by 2030, using light in photonic quantum computers to be able to perform computations at room temperature. The company went public in March after merging with publicly traded blank-check firm Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp. and IPO\u2019d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While traditional computing uses binary bits like 0 or 1 to represent data, quantum computing uses qubits, which can exist as both 0 and 1 simultaneously, exponentially increasing computational power and providing a powerful tool for increasing the speed at which AI is trained. Currently valued at about a $1 billion industry, quantum computing has the potential to become a $198 billion market by 2040, according to Jefferies analyst Kevin Garrigan.<\/p>\n
While other public quantum computing companies such as IonQ and Rigetti benefitted from Nvidia\u2019s open-sourcing announcement, Xanadu\u2019s surge, topping a $16 billion valuation, made it one of Canada\u2019s most valuable publicly traded tech companies.<\/p>\n
Xanadu did not immediately respond to Fortune\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Who is Christian Weedbrook?<\/p>\n
Before Weedbrook saw his net worth jump to 10 digits, he was a math nerd who, at 23, was working part-time at a video store and filming television commercials (as well as short films posted to YouTube) in between early morning shifts stocking groceries. The Australian native flunked out of his first year of film school not once, but twice, and took four years of odd jobs before ultimately deciding to return to university to study math.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d exhausted every other option,\u201d Weedbrook told The Globe and Mail. \u201cI thought \u2018I\u2019ll just go back to something I was okay in\u2013math. I don\u2019t know where this will head, I\u2019ll just see.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Weedbrook would go on to earn his quantum information theory PhD at the University of Queensland and study as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. In 2014, Weedbrook went from physicist to entrepreneur, founding Cipher Q, a quantum security company. But after investors told him they\u2019d rather invest in quantum computing than security, Weedbrook went on to launch Xanadu two years later in Toronto.<\/p>\n
While Weedbrook sought early backing for the company, his first chip failed, and he faced eviction three times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His luck changed when he\u00a0 secured assistance from University of Toronto\u2019s Creative Destruction Lab, an incubator, in Xanadu\u2019s early days. The company built momentum and demonstrated \u201cquantum advantage\u201d by performing a task in milliseconds compared to a supercomputer (which would have taken 9,000 years to perform the same task). Released in 2018, Xanadu\u2019s open-source software library PennyLane, named after Weedbrook\u2019s affinity for the Beatles, reached 35,000 active users as of March filings. Prior to its IPO last month, Xanadu secured $287 million in government financial aid for its data center plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can guarantee we\u2019re working the hardest\u201d out of all quantum computer developers, Weedbrook said in The Globe and Mail interview. \u201cIt\u2019s all about getting to this vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Xanadu #CEO #Christian #Weedbrook #film #school #dropout #billionaire #Nvidia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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