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By Stephen Nellis
SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) -Nvidia will open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, where it plans to collaborate with scientists from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CEO Jensen Huang said on Thursday.
Huang made the announcement at Nvidia's annual software developer conference in San Jose, California, where Nvidia held a day of events focused on quantum computing.
Nvidia added the program after Huang in January said useful quantum computers are 20 years away, comments he sought to walk back on Thursday while joined onstage by executives from quantum computing firms.
"This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong," Huang said.
The Nvidia Accelerated Quantum Research Center, which Nvidia is calling NVAQC for short, will work with quantum firms including Quantinuum, Quantum Machines and QuEra Computing. Nvidia said the center will begin operating later this year.
Huang discussed the state of the industry with executives from more than a dozen firms, some of which are trying to make money off quantum technology before the computers can outpace existing ones.
Matt Kinsella, CEO of Infleqtion, said the company can already provide better computing clocks that help synchronize multiple classical computing chips.
"We're following a tried and true monetization and market development strategy of monetizing those areas where we actually have true quantum advantage today," Kinsella said.
The quantum executives said that even when their machines outpace Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) at certain tasks such as understanding how atoms interact with one another, quantum machines will not replace traditional computers.
"We use your GPUs to design our chips," said Peter Chapman, CEO of IonQ. "It's going to be a classical system sitting next to a quantum computer, going back and forth...I wouldn't short any Nvidia stock at the end of this."
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Jose, California; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
