Award winner · GIC 2026 · 2nd worldwide
Quantum results for your industry.
Semiconductors, energy, chemicals, mobility, telecom, pharma, finance, security and aerospace: five to eight applications each, with the status of every one and the measured result under the application it proves. Pick your industry.
No key · No card
156
qubits in a single production run
6 h → 1 min
production scheduling, in daily use
+10%
downlink on a live network
7
quantum platforms our circuits run on
Industries and applications
Nine industries, five to eight applications each, every one with its status. Measured results sit under the application they prove.
1 · Semiconductors & advanced materials
The decision Which formulation or process variant goes to the next wafer lot.
- EUV photoresist candidate ranking Live
- Precursor and dopant chemistry (ALD/CVD precursors, dopant activation) Ready
- Low-k and high-k dielectric and interconnect materials Ready
- +3 more applications
2 · Energy & utilities
The decision Which reinforcement to commit capital to, which units to commit, how the network behaves when a line trips.
- Transmission expansion planning Live
- Contingency and cascading-failure analysis Live
- Unit commitment and economic dispatch Platform network
- +3 more applications
3 · Chemicals & process manufacturing
The decision Which production plan to run this shift; which formulation to make next.
- Production scheduling across grades and changeovers Platform network
- Nesting and job-shop scheduling (sheet, batch, multi-machine) Platform network
- Formulation and additive candidate ranking Live
- +3 more applications
4 · Mobility & automotive
The decision Can this controller be released; how to time signals across a city; how to route a fleet.
- Autonomous-driving safety validation Live
- Traffic-signal coordination Platform network
- Vehicle routing and fleet assignment, including drone delivery Platform network
- +3 more applications
5 · Telecom
The decision How to get more capacity from spectrum already owned; where to place QKD hardware; which traffic is anomalous.
- Carrier-aggregation optimisation Platform network
- Optical network routing and wavelength assignment Platform network
- QKD hardware placement Platform network
- +3 more applications
6 · Pharma & life sciences
The decision Which pocket to target before the assay campaign; which carrier or excipient to take to the bench.
- Allosteric site prediction from the structure file Live
- Formulation and excipient candidate ranking Live
- Drug-candidate and fragment energetics Ready
- +3 more applications
7 · Finance
The decision Which entities move together before a loss lands; which hedging or index-tracking book to hold.
- Correlated-risk and fraud-ring detection Live
- Credit-card fraud and anomaly detection Platform network
- Index tracking and cardinality-constrained selection Platform network
- +3 more applications
8 · Security & critical infrastructure
The decision Which cipher to migrate first and by when; which assets fail together under attack.
- Post-quantum migration planning Assessment
- Correlated-failure and blast-radius analysis Mapped
- QKD network design Platform network
- +3 more applications
9 · Aerospace & sovereign programmes
The decision When quantum CFD pays off; what to run on the installed machine now; how to schedule traffic, gates and missions.
- CFD acceleration roadmap Roadmap
- Air traffic flow management and multi-aircraft routing Platform network
- Airline gate allocation and mission scheduling Platform network
- +3 more applications
Merlin Quantum
One product, five solver families. Each names what it takes, what it returns and where it stands today.
Live on quantum hardware
Chemistry & materials
Candidate ranking · Binding and activation energetics
Live on quantum hardware
Network response & failure analysis
Contingency and correlated failure · Whole-network response
Deployed through the platform network
Planning & scheduling optimisation
Scheduling and dispatch · Routing and assignment · Selection under constraints
Deployed through the platform network
Detection & classification
Anomaly detection · Classification
Roadmap
Flow & field simulation
Field and flow simulation
Benchmarks
Our figure beside the published reference in each industry, with the baseline it was checked against and the source.
Semiconductors & advanced materials · EUV photoresist candidate screening
Published reference Published device runs on the same photoresist chemistry: 14 and 22 qubits. arXiv:2607.23988, 2026
Merlin 4/4 candidates ranked correctly on hardware · 40-qubit chemistry model · training 173 GPU-hours → minutes
Baseline Exact reference energies; the published method’s training cost
Energy & utilities · Transmission expansion planning
Published reference Unit commitment at 25,755 variables and 48,939 constraints ran feasibly on a photonic QPU, with a commercial MILP solver ahead at short runtimes; generation scheduling at 26 generators × 24 periods on 36 trapped-ion qubits, no optimality proof. arXiv:2505.00145; platform-network results, 2025–26
Merlin Optimum proven over 1,048,576 plans · reduced-order model 9% worse on the same QPU
Baseline Exhaustive classical search; the full model on the same machine
Mobility & automotive · Autonomous-driving safety validation · traffic signal coordination
Published reference Nonlinear flow on superconducting hardware reaches 15 time steps; vehicle routing on device reaches 3 nodes. IBM Heron R3, 2026; arXiv:2504.01567; arXiv:2509.11469
Merlin 95.6% vs 39.5% safe episodes · 20% less waiting at signals (PoC)
Baseline White-noise disturbance model; conventional signal timing
What changes
Time
6 h → 1 min
A re-plan takes hours, so the plant runs yesterday’s plan.
A checked plan in minutes, on demand.
Quality
within 0.3%
Candidates are ranked by synthesis and wafer runs, weeks per option.
Ranked before synthesis, with the gap each ranking rests on.
Cost
173 GPU-hours → minutes
Training the chemistry model costs 173 GPU-hours per screen.
Minutes on one GPU, for the same method.
Award winner · GIC 2026 · 2nd worldwide
The 2026 Global Industry Challenge, Advanced Materials track, set by Mitsubishi Chemical Group × AIST: quantum chemistry on an industrial EUV photoresist. A judged result; it does not imply endorsement of any product.
Runs on
IBM HeronIBM NighthawkQuEra AquilaAQT IBEXRigetti CepheusQCi Dirac-3IonQIBM HeronIBM NighthawkQuEra AquilaAQT IBEXRigetti CepheusQCi Dirac-3IonQ
The photoresist ranking ran on IBM Heron; the disturbance model on a 128-qubit processor; the grid encodings on photonic hardware. Platforms we run on, not partnerships or endorsements.
Start with a proof of concept on your data.
Send the candidates, the network, the schedule, or the files your current tools already produce. You get the result, the baseline it was checked against, and a clear answer on whether quantum changed it. No key · No card.