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They Did It Again.
A follow-up to: How Do You Say “Sputnik” in Chinese? Five months ago I wrote about Hanyuan-1 — China’s rack-mountable, room-temperature quantum computer that turned quantum from a physics experiment into an IT procurement decision. I said the signal was clear: China wasn’t just winning the qubit race. They were winning the adoption race. This week, they proved the point from a completely different angle. Meet Jiuzhang 4.0. A Different Machine. A Bigger Number. Jiuzhang isn’t

Rich Washburn
Apr 202 min read


A Quantum Founder Just Became a Billionaire in Days. Pay Attention.
Christian Weedbrook didn't need a decade of Wall Street validation. He didn't need a SPAC, a merger, or a long road show. He needed Nvidia to say yes. The founder of PsiQuantum, a Toronto-based quantum computing startup, became a billionaire in a matter of days after Nvidia threw its institutional weight behind the space. Bloomberg covered it. The market moved. A founder's net worth crossed ten figures almost overnight. That is not a tech story. That is a capital markets sign

Rich Washburn
Apr 182 min read


The Signal Before the Click: The Moment Before the Quantum Acceleration
There’s a feel to precision—the instant a mechanism locks into place and the world goes quiet for half a second.Right before that click, though, there’s the glide: friction drops, alignment happens, inevitability hums. That’s where we are with quantum. The parts are lining up, the resistance is gone, and you can almost feel the system seat itself. History Has a Rhythm Every so often we get a cycle big enough to reset the world.They’re far enough apart that we forget what they

Rich Washburn
Dec 5, 20253 min read


From Steel Mills to Superposition: Chicago Bets Big on Quantum Computing
For over three decades, the 600-acre South Works site on Chicago’s Southeast Side has stood as a stark monument to industrial decline—a...

Rich Washburn
Dec 17, 20244 min read


The Optical Revolution: How Photonic Computing is Shaping the Future of AI and Data Centers
The world of computing is on the verge of a seismic shift, a transformation that could make today’s fastest processors look like...

Rich Washburn
Oct 4, 20245 min read


HUGE AI Networking Breakthrough: POET Technologies and the Future of AI Data Centers
When it comes to striking gold in the stock market, the key is often spotting the right company at the right time. Tesla dominated...

Rich Washburn
Sep 22, 20245 min read


The Chip Wars: Huawei’s Ascend 910C and Ampere’s Rise in AI Computing
The world of AI chip development is a rapidly evolving battlefield, with key players vying for dominance in a market that could shape the...

Rich Washburn
Aug 30, 20243 min read


Microchip Breakthrough: New Material For a New Era in Electronics
In a world where technology evolves faster than fashion trends, one thing has remained the bedrock of our digital existence: transistors....

Rich Washburn
Aug 9, 20243 min read


Scalable Quantum Computing on Brink of Breakthrough
Quantum computing has long promised to revolutionize fields like financial markets and cryptographic security. Recently, major strides...

Rich Washburn
Jun 15, 20242 min read


Powering AI: The Urgent Need for Computational Infrastructure
In the dawn of the artificial intelligence era, the race for computational resources has become a defining feature of technological...

Rich Washburn
Jun 13, 20243 min read


Light-Based Computing: The Optical Transistor Revolution
For decades, electronic transistors have been the bedrock of technological progress, enabling the rapid advancement of computing power...

Rich Washburn
May 27, 20244 min read


Femtosecond Computing: Photonic Chip Harnessing the Speed of Light
In the unceasing quest for faster and more efficient computing, researchers have developed a groundbreaking photonic chip that computes...

Rich Washburn
May 8, 20242 min read


Beyond the Nanometer: How Backside Power and Nanosheet Transistors will Redefine Microchips
A revolution is underway that could reshape the entire microchip industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Intel...

Rich Washburn
May 8, 20242 min read


EUV Oversight: How America Missed a Technological Goldmine
In an era where technological prowess increasingly dictates economic strength and geopolitical leverage, the story of extreme ultraviolet...

Rich Washburn
Apr 25, 20242 min read


Securing the Future: The Imperative of U.S. Leadership in Semiconductor Innovation and Manufacturing
The Strategic Necessity In the arena of global technology, the semiconductor industry stands as a critical battleground, particularly in...

Rich Washburn
Jan 19, 20242 min read


Photonics: Harnessing Light for Energy-Efficient Neural Networks
In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, the game-changing potential of silicon photonics in neural networks marks a...

Rich Washburn
Dec 20, 20232 min read


Quantum computational advantage with a programmable photonic processor
A significant advancement in quantum computing using a photonic processor is Borealis. This processor demonstrates quantum computational...

Rich Washburn
Dec 7, 20232 min read


Primer on silicon neuromorphic photonic processors
Challenges in Microelectronic Computers: It acknowledges the limitations of current microelectronic computers in meeting today's...

Rich Washburn
Dec 7, 20232 min read


Recent advancements in photonics research
Vibrational Photothermal Microscopy (VIP Microscopy): Researchers led by Dr. Ji-Xin Cheng at Boston University have developed more...

Rich Washburn
Dec 6, 20232 min read


Photonic Technology: Transforming Medicine, Biotech, and Military Applications
Photonics, the technology of generating and harnessing light, is making significant strides in various fields, including medicine,...

Rich Washburn
Dec 5, 20232 min read
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