Podcast with Steve Gibson, President of Americas at JIJ

Yuval Boger’s guest is Steve Gibson, President of Americas at JIJ, a Japan-based optimization company whose founders came from Professor Nishimori’s lab. Steve shared how JIJ spans the spectrum from classical to quantum-inspired to quantum computing, and discussed how the company is now using AI to make its optimization tools more accessible to customers who lack in-house quantum expertise. We explored the state of quantum readiness, and how organizations should start preparing now for the business and technical changes quantum will require. Steve also outlined his mission to bring JIJ’s capabilities and deep research talent from Japan to the US and European markets, provided advice for US executives doing business with Japan, and much more. Steve Gibson says about 80% of JIJ’s commercial optimization engagements run on classical or quantum-inspired solvers, with only 20% actually using quantum hardware, reflecting where the technology currently delivers practical value. In a UK national program test, JIJ decomposed a problem to run partly on a quantum photonic system; the quantum-assisted approach wasn’t faster than the best classical method but produced a slightly better answer, which Gibson uses as his working definition of ‘advantage’ today. Gibson believes quantum computing’s arrival is inevitable but the timing…