Why quantum has been "10 years away" for 30 years | E2316 | This Week in Startups

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Today's show:

*For three decades now, we've been told that breakthroughs in quantum computing are right around the corner. So why hasn't anything materialized?

On TWiST in Tokyo, Jason sits down with Yaqumo CEO Kazuhiro Nakashoji and discusses what needed to change (like better algorithms and hardware), and why we may finally be nearing quantum's big moment.

Find out why quantum machines are so error-prone, explore the unusual international quantum supply chain, and get a heads-up about the cryptography reckoning coming for your Bitcoin.

Guest

Kazuhiro Nakashoji on X: https://x.com/KNakashoji

Yaqumo Inc.: https://yaqumo.com/en/

Relevant Links

JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization): https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Institute for Molecular Science: https://www.ims.ac.jp/en/

Quantum Insider: Yaqumo Quantum Photonics Agreement: https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/06/04/yaqumo-nkt-photonics-and-hamamatsu-photonics-sign-quantum-photonics-agreement/

Quantonation investment announcement: https://quantumcomputingreport.com/quantonation-selects-neutral-atom-hardware-developer-yaqumo-for-first-japanese-investment/

NIST: What is Post-Quantum Cryptography? https://www.nist.gov/cybersecurity-and-privacy/what-post-quantum-cryptography

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro / Founder University Tokyo

2:20 Guest intro: Kazu of Yakumo

3:20 What is a qubit?

8:34 Why quantum computers are so fragile

8:45 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started

13:36 Spinning IP out of the university lab

18:42 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

28:01 Building the "Toyota of Quantum"

29:38 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

31:25 AI for quantum, and quantum for AI

38:35 Harvest Now, Decrypt Later

41:41 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

43:22 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

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