John Russell

Boston

Contributing Editor at EnterpriseAI

Senior Editor at HPCwire

Articles

FDA's Embrace of AI to Speed Up Drug Approvals Leaves Industry Observers Excited, Uneasy

3 weeks ago | law.com | John Russell

Under pressure to speed up the review of drugs and medical devices, the Food and Drug Administration is turning to artificial intelligence tools to help its scientific reviewers and investigators aggressively shorten the process.
World Quantum Day Celebrates the Potential of Quantum Technology

2 months ago | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Brace for a deluge of all things quantum today as the third World Quantum Day takes place around the world. The date April 14, was selected because4/14 is close to first three numbers of Planck’s constant: 4.1356677×10−15 eV⋅s, which is the fundamental constant governing quantum physics. Broadly-speaking, there is no central coordination; instead there is a wide variety of events conducted worldwide by governments, academia, and prominent laboratories.
Quantum Case Study: Merck, Amgen, Deloitte, and QuEra Tackle Clinical Trial Prediction

2 months ago | hpcwire.com | Yuval Boger |John Russell

Clinical trials, particularly for rare diseases, oncology, and precision medicine, often grapple with a critical challenge: too little data. Many standard machine-learning algorithms require substantial data sets to achieve credible accuracy, and smaller data sets can lead to overfitting, high variance in predictions, and poor generalization.
Chicago’s Bet on Quantum for Riches and Renewal

2 months ago | hpcwire.com | John Russell

There’s a race around the world to build the next Silicon Valley, but for quantum computing. Quantum advocates see riches, influence, and maybe redemption for sites like south Chicago. The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park is being built on the site of US Steel’s South Works, which closed in 1992. Bloomberg today posted a fascinating article by Zach Mortice describing Chicago’s effort to transform the site of a once-thriving-now-dead steel works into a quantum powerhouse.
Smile: Hyperion Introduces Top of Mind Market Snapshots

2 months ago | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Hyperion Research just issued the results of its first Top of Mind survey. The idea is to take a quick pulse (5 questions) of HPC/AI/Quantum community opinion every 2-3 months. This first effort looked at AI, mixed precision data formats, hyperscalers and the Top 500 list, quantum computers, and HPC hardware shortcomings. So without prelude here are the first two quick pics:Probably no great surprises in the first two.
What is Quantum Anyway? Check Out NIST Primer

Mar 26, 2025 | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Looking to brush up on the basics of quantum computing? The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has posted a mini primer that explains many aspects of quantum information science in layman terms. Presented under the title — Quantum Computing Explained — the short NIST commentary tackles quantum computing’s mystery words — superposition and entanglement — and includes the following sections:• What is quantum, anyway? • What could quantum computers do?
GTC Quantum Day: Jensen’s Mea Culpa; Nvidia’s Growing Quantum Bet

Mar 25, 2025 | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Nvidia’s Quantum Day, held last Thursday at GTC, brought together many leaders of the quantum computing landscape to talk about quantum’s future. This follows, of course, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s comments at CES in January that useful quantum computing was still 15 to 30 years away, and prompted a quantum stock dive (~60%) that drew outrage the quantum community. It’s good to be King but what you say matters.
Quantum Industry Hit $1.4B in 2024 Says QED-C Report

Mar 20, 2025 | hpcwire.com | John Russell

The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) issued its State of the Global Quantum Industry report today. Top line: The broad quantum industry (computers and sensors) had $1.45 billion in revenue in 2024 and is growing at ~25-Plus percent annually. Here are some highlights:Quantum computer revenue was $1.07B while the sensor market was $375 million. There were 6502 “quantum-engaged” companies. Governments invested $3.1 billion while venture capital added $2.6 billion.
GTC 25: Nvidia Deepens Quantum Plunge with Boston-based Research Center

Mar 19, 2025 | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s announcement yesterday of plans to establish the Nvidia Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC) in Boston, the company offered a few more details about the facility and the scope of its research in a blog by Nicholas Harrigan, Nvidia’s product marketing manager for quantum, and a former senior quantum at PsiQuantum.
D-Wave Reports Quantum Supremacy; Stirs Immediate Challenge (and Rebuttal)

Mar 13, 2025 | hpcwire.com | John Russell

Quantum computing pioneer D-Wave yesterday reported achieving Quantum Supremacy with a simulation of magnetic material performed on its Advantage2 system. For years D-Wave has championed its quantum annealing approach as the only readily available form of quantum computing. Rival gate-based systems, says D-Wave, aren’t ready now and won’t be for years.