Lockheed Martin buys first D-Wave quantum computing system

May 26, 2011

Simplified schematic of a superconducting flux qubit acting as a quantum mechanical spin. Circulating current in the qubit loop gives rise to a flux inside, encoding two distinct spin states that can exist in a superposition. (Credit: D-Wave Systems Inc.)

Lockheed Martin Corporation has agreed to purchase the first D-Wave One quantum computing system fromĀ D-Wave Systems Inc., according to D-Wave spokesperson Ann Gibbon.

Lockheed Martin plans to use this “quantum annealing processor” for some of Lockheed Martin’s “most challenging computation problems,” according to a D-Wave statement.

D-Wave computing systems address combinatorial optimization problems.that are “hard for traditional methods to solve in a cost-effective amount of time.”

These include software verification and validation, financial risk analysis, affinity mapping and sentiment analysis, object recognition in images, medical imaging classification, compressed sensing, and bioinformatics.