D-Wave Upgrades Stride Hybrid Quantum Solver, Claims 200x Performance Gain

At a glance

On November 4, D-Wave said it had improved the core algorithm of Stride, its optimization software that combines quantum and classical computing. The company claims the upgraded version finds in 15 seconds an answer that the previous version needed 120 seconds to reach.

Key points

1. 1

   Optimization software solves problems such as finding the best order or arrangement, as in logistics and manufacturing.

2. 2

   On the traveling salesman problem (finding the shortest route that visits many points once and returns to the start), with up to 10,000 points, it reportedly found answers within an average of 0.02% of the best known…

3. 3

   The company said that, for the same amount of time, the new version came more than 200 times closer to the best answer than the previous one.

4. 4

   The company said these results compare against its previous version. Comparisons with other optimization programs or independent verification have not yet been confirmed.

Why it matters

To judge whether quantum computers can be used in real business, it is important that performance claims are confirmed by outside parties.