From NVIDIA's AI error correction to Cisco's aim at "quantum interconnection", the quantum craze is once again creating a huge wave! Technology giants are competing in the commercialization of quantum computing.

Cisco Systems, Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer networks and internet devices, showcased a high-performance switching chip developed for the quantum computing field to global investors on Thursday. Referred to as the "pioneer of the internet age" and riding the AI infrastructure wave, Cisco Systems, Inc. emphasized in a statement that this switch chip will be able to connect different types of quantum computers. With the recent surge in interest in quantum computing worldwide, this move can be seen as a critical step forward for this leading computer hardware manufacturer in the cutting-edge technology fieldeventually aiming to connect a large network consisting of super quantum computers, just like how its devices connect the existing internet systems. Similar to other major technology companies like Alphabet's Alphabet Inc. Class C and long-standing tech giant IBM, Cisco Systems, Inc. is also developing core technologies closely related to quantum computing. Quantum computers can utilize quantum mechanical properties to solve significant problems that current computer systems cannot handle. However, instead of joining the competition to manufacture its own quantum computers like IBM, Alphabet Inc. Class C, and Amazon.com, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc. is actively collaborating with a range of participants to connect their machines using its exclusive technology. Large-scale quantum computers currently employ multiple technological approaches for joint constructionsome use laser-irradiated rubidium atoms suspended in a vacuum, while others use superconducting technology cooled to near absolute zero. The recent surge in interest in quantum computing is rapidly heating up in the global capital markets and the forefront of the technology industry. For example, NVIDIA Corporation, known as the "AI chip superpower," has introduced a series of new open-source artificial intelligence models aimed at accelerating the development of quantum computing. NVIDIA Corporation's launch of the world's first quantum computing open-source AI model family, Ising, focuses on solving two key bottlenecks: quantum processor calibration and real-time decoding of quantum error correction. NVIDIA Corporation claims that Ising Calibration can compress quantum chip calibration from "days" to "hours," while Ising Decoding is used to accelerate real-time decoding required for quantum error correction. Since 2025, NVIDIA Corporation has been accelerating the integration of quantum computing into its "AI+HPC" infrastructure blueprint, with offerings like CUDA Quantum/DGX Quantum for quantum-classical hybrid computing stacks. It has also announced the establishment of a quantum computing lab in Boston and set up a special Quantum Day at GTC, emphasizing the acceleration of quantum algorithms, quantum error correction, and quantum simulation using GPU supercomputing. Vijoy Pandey, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Outshift, Cisco Systems, Inc.'s emerging technologies and incubation department, stated that quantum computing researchers generally believe that these quantum computing technology paths for building quantum computers may each have their own reasonable advantages in the future. The switch chip developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. can work at room temperature and use standardized telecom fiber cables, serving as a Universal Quantum Switch that can switch between different technology paths. "This means you can speak any language," Pandey said. Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer of Cisco Systems, Inc., stated that while a scalable large-scale quantum computing network may not materialize until around 2030, the switch chip from Cisco Systems, Inc. may have immediate applications in the security field. Patel mentioned that while the chip announced on Thursday is still a prototype or rudimentary switch chip, some early typical quantum computing applications could potentially emerge in as little as three years. The exchange chip from Cisco Systems, Inc. does not directly address the core bottleneck of "quantum computing power," but it lays the critical groundwork for commercial quantum networking around 2030. The significance of the quantum exchange chip showcased by Cisco Systems, Inc. lies not in "immediately creating a more powerful quantum computer," but in solving an underlying issue for the future commercialization of quantum computing: how different quantum machines can interconnect, network, and collaborate. Operating at room temperature and using standard telecom fiber, the chip aims to act as a "translator" between different quantum systems, such as rubidium atoms and superconductors, which corresponds to the infrastructure of future quantum internet and distributed quantum data centers. In the short term, it is most likely to be applied in quantum sensor networks and security monitoring, with Cisco Systems, Inc. suggesting that early applications of the prototype chip could potentially emerge in around three years. Looking ahead, if large-scale quantum computing is to move towards commercialization, a single-machine route may not be sufficient, and modular interconnection, entanglement distribution, low-loss quantum networks, and cross-architecture compatibility will become as crucial as quantum error correction infrastructure. Is the "quantum supremacy era" approaching? The fundamental principle of quantum mechanics is that information can exist in more than one state simultaneously before being measuredsuch as in a superposition, famously demonstrated in Schrdinger's unfortunate cat experiment, where the cat could be both alive and dead before the box is opened. The switch chip from Cisco Systems, Inc. can connect multiple existing quantum sensors to a large interconnected network and place them in what is known as a quantum entangled state. If a hackeror the increasingly common malicious artificial intelligence agent controlled by hackersappears in the network and intercepts communications, the quantum sensors can quickly detect this, as information collection causes the entangled state to collapse. "If you can start detecting all types of behavior happening on the network through a quantum computing switch, it would almost completely change the defense posture of countries around the globe," Patel said. Quantum computing systems utilize the properties of quantum mechanics, such as quantum superposition and entanglement, to provide a new computing paradigm that theoretically can surpass the computational capabilities of traditional binary computers in certain fields. According to a statement from Alphabet Inc. Class C on December 9, 2024, the Willow quantum chip demonstrated remarkable performance in benchmark testing, being able to complete a "standard benchmark calculation" in under 5 minutes, a task that would take traditional supercomputers 10-25 years to complete. With IonQ announcing a 99.99% fidelity of two-qubit gates and IBM deploying quantum error correction classical decoders on commercial AMD FPGAs for real-time response in nanoseconds, it is widely predicted in the industry that industrial quantum advantages and key quantum turning points like "quantum supremacy" are only three to five years away. The convergence of technological critical points is shifting quantum computing from an academic topic to an urgent national security issue, especially when practical quantum advantages are more likely to appear within the next 2-5 years in the form of 'narrow scenarios + hybrid computing + verifiable benefits.' Nicolas Demassieux, CEO of IonQ, a leading player in the global quantum computing field, recently stated that significant breakthroughs and transformations in the quantum computing field are rapidly approaching, and the so-called "quantum supremacy era" is about to arrive. As the number of quantum hardware qubits and gate fidelity continues to improve, the concept of "quantum supremacy" that Demassieux mentioned is used to mark an important thresholda quantum processor completing a calculation in a specific defined task at a speed that classical supercomputers cannot reach. However, in the "fault-tolerant quantum computing engineering" stage, the core bottleneck remains in quantum error correction, logical qubit scaling, decoherence control, low-temperature/optical/control electronics system integration, and quantum-classical interconnection architectures. The rapid development of quantum computing has caught the attention of the capital markets, with a growing interest in quantum investment opportunities. NVIDIA Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM, Alphabet Inc. Class C, Quantinuum, and Pasqal, among other leading companies in quantum computing, have made significant progress and developments in their technologies. These developments are essentially laying the groundwork for viable commercial quantum computing systems that may emerge by 2030, making quantum computing the most sought-after next-generation "grand tech narrative" following the AI super wave. NVIDIA Corporation's efforts to build a large-scale quantum computing infrastructure layer with "AI+GPU+quantum processor" aims to connect quantum computing hardware manufacturers, global leading research institutions, and AI GPU supercomputing ecosystems with offerings such as open-source AI models, CUDA Quantum/DGX Quantum, and NVQLink optimized for quantum computing. NVIDIA Corporation's initiatives are also a significant catalyst for the recent surge in quantum computing interest. Recently, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund revealed its long positions in several quantum computing company stocks in the fourth quarter of 2025, involving IonQ (IONQ.US), Rigetti (RGTI.US), and D-Wave Quantum (QBTS.US)the top three players in the US quantum concept. With a broader risk exposure to IonQ, along with companies like IQM and Pasqal Holding SAS, co-founded by 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Alain Aspect, venturing to the US stock market through SPAC listings, this signifies a comprehensive acceleration of industrial financing and capitalization in the quantum computing industry. Quantum computing, widely regarded by the quantum physics community as the "next generation computing revolution," is still in its relatively early stages of development. However, this cutting-edge technology's accelerated breakthroughs and capital heat are resonating. The "quantum computing wave" is shifting from academic discourse to a new narrative of financing, listing, valuation expansion, and rapidly progressing towards large-scale commercialization. Global quantum computing has entered a milestone stage of transitioning from experimental demonstrations to fault-tolerant engineering, inching closer towards broad commercialization. The most crucial progress at present is not merely stacking physical qubits but focusing on logical qubits, quantum error correction, error rate thresholds, and modular interconnection. For instance, Alphabet Inc. Class C's Willow-related papers have demonstrated progress in quantum error correction below the surface code threshold, proving that logical error rates can be lowered as the coding scales up; IBM has provided a clear roadmap, aiming to launch Starling in 2029, with around 200 logical qubits and 100 million quantum gate operations, progressing to even larger-scale systems thereafter. In other words, the quantum computing industry is approaching the threshold of a "usable fault-tolerant quantum machine," with the earliest glimpses of small-scale initial commercialization models potentially visible by as early as 2030. However, the biggest bottleneck for viable commercialization of quantum computing lies in error rates and scaling engineering. Quantum bits are extremely fragile, susceptible to decoherence, thermal noise, control errors, crosstalk, and readout errors; achieving a reliable logical quantum bit often requires a vast number of physical quantum bits for error correction coding, resulting in significant infrastructure hardware, control electronics, low-temperature systems, optical systems, and real-time decoding overhead.