Australia took centre stage in the global AI landscape last week as NVIDIA AI Day Sydney gathered over a thousand participants to explore the nation’s path toward sovereign AI.
The event, held at ICC Sydney Theatre, featured discussions on agentic and physical AI, robotics and AI factories, highlighting how the next generation of computing is driving transformation across sectors.
Industry leaders, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Canva and emerging startups, joined NVIDIA executives to discuss how advanced computing and AI are shaping innovation.
Brendan Hopper of the Commonwealth Bank praised NVIDIA’s role in expanding Australia’s AI ecosystem through infrastructure, partnerships and education.
Speakers such as Giuseppe Barca of QDX Technologies emphasised how AI, high-performance computing and quantum research are redefining scientific progress.
With over 600 NVIDIA Inception startups and more than 20 universities using NVIDIA technologies, Australia’s AI ecosystem is expanding rapidly. Partners like Firmus Technologies, ResetData and SHARON AI underscored how AI Day Sydney demonstrated the nation’s readiness to become a regional AI hub.
The event also hosted Australia’s first ‘Startup, VC and Partner Connect’, linking entrepreneurs, investors and government officials to accelerate collaboration.
Presentations from quantum and healthcare innovators, alongside hands-on NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute sessions, showcased real-world AI applications from generative design to medical transcription.
NVIDIA’s Sudarshan Ramachandran said Australia’s combination of high-performance computing heritage, visual effects expertise and emerging robotics sector positions it to lead in the AI era.
Through collaboration and infrastructure investment, he said, the country is building a thriving ecosystem that supports discovery, sustainability and economic growth.
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Scientists at the University of Oxford have achieved quantum teleportation between two quantum computers, marking a major step toward distributed quantum computing. The experiment successfully transmitted a quantum algorithm wirelessly between processors using quantum entanglement.
Rather than moving physical matter, the process transferred data instantaneously by linking qubits, the basic units of quantum information. The two computers, though separated by two metres, shared data as if operating as one, greatly enhancing their combined computing power.
The British breakthrough demonstrates how multiple quantum systems could one day work together as a single global supercomputer. Researchers say the approach could enable quantum networks and lay the groundwork for a future quantum internet capable of unprecedented speeds and security.
Quantum teleportation works by using pairs of entangled particles that remain connected across any distance. While humans and objects cannot yet teleport, the technology could soon allow scientists to connect remote machines into unified, ultra-powerful computing systems.
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US CEOs prioritise cost reduction and AI integration amid global economic uncertainty. According to KPMG’s 2025 CEO Outlook, leaders are reshaping supply chains while preparing for rapid AI transformation over the next three years.
Tariffs are a key factor influencing business strategies, with 89% of US CEOs expecting significant operational impacts. Many are adjusting sourcing models, while 86% say they will increase prices where needed. Supply chain resilience remains the top short-term pressure for decision-making.
AI agents are seen as major game-changers. 84% of CEOs expect a native AI company to become a leading industry player within 3 years, displacing incumbents. Companies are accelerating investment returns, with most expecting payoffs within one to three years.
Cybersecurity is a significant concern alongside AI integration. Forty-six percent have increased spending on digital risk resilience, focusing on fraud prevention and data privacy. CEOs recognise that AI and quantum computing introduce both opportunities and new vulnerabilities.
Workforce transformation is a clear priority. Eighty-six percent plan to embed AI agents into teams next year, while 73% focus on retaining and retraining high-potential talent. Upskilling, governance, and organisational redesign are emerging as essential strategies.
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The Nobel Prize in Physics has spotlighted quantum mechanics’ growing role in shaping a smarter, more sustainable future. Such advances are reshaping technology across communications and energy.
Researchers are finding new ways to use quantum effects to boost efficiency. Quantum computing could ease AI’s power demands, while novel production methods may transform energy systems.
A Institute of Science Tokyo team has built a quantum energy harvester that captures waste heat and converts it into power, bypassing traditional thermodynamic limits.
MIT has observed frictionless electron movement, and new quantum batteries promise faster charging by storing energy in photons. The breakthroughs could enable cleaner and more efficient technologies.
Quantum advances offer huge opportunities but also risks, including threats to encryption. Responsible governance will be crucial to ensure these technologies serve the public good.
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The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for their experiments that brought quantum mechanical effects into macroscopic systems.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited their ‘discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit’.
In classic quantum mechanics, particles can sometimes cross through energy barriers via a process known as tunnelling, behaviour that typically occurs at atomic or subatomic scales.
The laureates’ work showed that such quantum phenomena can appear in larger electrical circuits using superconductors and Josephson junctions, systems that were thought to be firmly in the domain of classical physics.
Their experiments (conducted in the mid-1980s) involved circuits made of superconducting materials separated by a thin insulating barrier. By finely tuning currents and electromagnetic stimuli, they were able to force a system to switch between zero-voltage and finite voltage states, essentially demonstrating that the circuit could ‘tunnel’ from one state to another.
In addition, they demonstrated energy quantisation in these systems, that the circuits absorb and emit energy in discrete packets, consistent with quantum theory.
This work is widely viewed as a foundational bridge between theoretical quantum mechanics and practical quantum technology. Superconducting circuits (such as qubits in quantum computers) rely on precisely these kinds of effects, and the laureates’ results helped validate the notion that quantum engineering is possible in engineered devices.
As the Nobel announcement puts it, their experiments ‘revealed quantum physics in action’ in a device small enough to hold in hand.
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A team of Harvard physicists has built a quantum computing machine that can operate continuously without restarting, achieving a significant milestone in experimental quantum hardware.
Until now, quantum computing systems have typically run only for milliseconds or seconds before decoherence or atom loss forces a reset. But in a new setup, the team sustained operation for more than two hours, and they claim that, in theory, it could run indefinitely.
The breakthrough depends on a design that uses an optical lattice conveyor belt together with optical tweezers. These tools allow the system to replenish qubits (atoms) in real time, injecting new atoms at a rate of 300,000 per second into a 3,000-qubit array, to counteract atom loss and maintain quantum information.
Overcoming atom loss has been one of the biggest bottlenecks in scaling quantum computers. Without that fix, durability and error accumulation limit usability. With this experiment, the researchers demonstrate a path toward more robust, always-on quantum platforms.
Mikhail Lukin, who leads Harvard’s quantum research, said that while scaling remains challenging, the approach appears compatible with larger systems. Collaboration with MIT physicist Vladan Vuletić suggested that machines capable of indefinite operation could be within reach in as little as three years.
Applications in cryptography, materials simulation, finance, and medicine could benefit enormously if quantum machines can reliably operate over long durations. The new design resets a key assumption in quantum systems, shifting focus from short bursts of computation to sustained, fault-tolerant operation.
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Harvard physicists have developed the first continuously operating quantum computer, running for more than two hours without interruption and potentially indefinitely.
Until now, most quantum machines lasted milliseconds, with the longest recorded runtime about 13 seconds. The Harvard team overcame the problem of qubit loss by replenishing atoms in real time using an optical lattice conveyor belt and optical tweezers.
The system contains 3,000 qubits and can inject 300,000 atoms per second, allowing information to be preserved as older particles escape. The findings were produced with MIT collaborators and mark a turning point in quantum research.
Researchers say machines capable of running indefinitely could arrive within two to three years, accelerating progress in medicine, finance, and cryptography. Harvard has heavily invested in the field, launching one of the first PhD programmes in quantum science.
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Google Quantum AI has taken a major step in its pursuit of error-corrected quantum computing by integrating Atlantic Quantum, an MIT spin-out focused on superconducting hardware.
The move, while not formally labelled an acquisition, effectively brings the startup’s technology and talent into Google’s programme, strengthening its roadmap toward scalable quantum systems.
Atlantic Quantum, founded in 2021, has worked on integrating qubits with superconducting control electronics in the same cold stage.
A modular chip stack that promises to simplify design, reduce noise, and make scaling more efficient. Everything is equally important to build machines capable of solving problems beyond the reach of classical computers.
Google’s Hartmut Neven highlighted the approach as a way to accelerate progress toward large, fault-tolerant devices.
The startup’s journey, from MIT research labs to Google integration, has been rapid and marked by what CEO Bharath Kannan called ‘managed chaos’.
The founding team and investors were credited with pushing superconducting design forward despite the immense challenges of commercialising such cutting-edge technology.
Beyond hardware, Google gains a strong pool of engineers and researchers, enhancing its competitive edge in a field where rivals include IBM and several well-funded scale-ups.
A move that reflects a broader industry trend where research-heavy startups are increasingly folded into major technology firms to advance long-term quantum ambitions. With governments and corporations pouring resources into the race, consolidation is becoming common.
For Atlantic Quantum, joining Google ensures both technological momentum and access to resources needed for the next phase. As co-founder Simon Gustavsson put it, the work ‘does not stop here’ but continues within Google Quantum AI’s effort to deliver real-world quantum applications.
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Caltech physicists have developed a groundbreaking neutral-atom quantum computer, trapping 6,100 caesium atoms as qubits in a single array. Published in Nature, the achievement marks the largest such system to date, surpassing previous arrays limited to hundreds of qubits.
The system maintains exceptional stability, with qubits coherent for 13 seconds and single-qubit operations achieving 99.98% accuracy. Using optical tweezers, researchers move atoms with precision while maintaining their superposition state, essential for reliable quantum computing.
The milestone highlights neutral-atom systems as strong contenders in quantum computing, offering dynamic reconfigurability compared to rigid hardware. The ability to rearrange qubits during computations paves the way for advanced error correction in future systems.
As global efforts intensify to scale quantum machines, Caltech’s work sets a new benchmark. The team aims to advance entanglement for full-scale computations, bringing practical quantum solutions closer for fields like chemistry and materials science.
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The University of Pennsylvania’s engineering team has made a breakthrough that could bring the quantum internet much closer to practical use. Researchers have demonstrated that quantum and classical networks can share the same backbone by transmitting quantum signals over standard fibre optic infrastructure using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that powers today’s web.
Their silicon photonics ‘Q-Chip’ achieved over 97% fidelity in real-world field tests, showing that the quantum internet does not necessarily require building entirely new networks from scratch.
That result, while highly technical, has far-reaching implications. Beyond physics and computer science, it raises urgent questions for governance, national infrastructures, and the future of digital societies.
Quantum signals were transmitted as packets with classical headers readable by conventional routers, while the quantum information itself remained intact.
Noise management
The chip corrected disturbances by analysing the classical header without disturbing the quantum payload. An interesting fact is that the test ran on a Verizon fibre link between two buildings, not just in a controlled lab.
That fact makes the experiment different from earlier advances focusing mainly on quantum key distribution (QKD) or specialised lab setups. It points toward a future in which quantum networking and classical internet coexist and are managed through similar protocols.
Implications for governance and society
Government administration
Governments increasingly rely on digital infrastructure to deliver services, store sensitive records, and conduct diplomacy. The quantum internet could provide secure e-government services resistant to espionage or tampering, protected digital IDs and voting systems, reinforcing democratic integrity, and classified communication channels that even future quantum computers cannot decrypt.
That positions quantum networking as a sovereignty tool, not just a scientific advance.
Healthcare
Health systems are frequent targets of cyberattacks. Quantum-secured communication could protect patient records and telemedicine platforms, enable safe data sharing between hospitals and research centres, support quantum-assisted drug discovery and personalised medicine via distributed quantum computing.
Here, the technology directly impacts citizens’ trust in digital health.
Critical infrastructure and IT systems
National infrastructures, such as energy grids, financial networks, and transport systems, could gain resilience from quantum-secured communication layers.
In addition, quantum-enhanced sensing could provide more reliable navigation independent of GPS, enable early-warning systems for earthquakes or natural disasters, and strengthen resilience against cyber-sabotage of strategic assets.
Citizens and everyday services
For ordinary users, the quantum internet will first be invisible. Their emails, bank transactions, and medical consultations will simply become harder to hack.
Over time, however, quantum-secured platforms may become a market differentiator for banks, telecoms, and healthcare providers.
Citizens and universities may gain remote access to quantum computing resources, democratising advanced research and innovation.
Building a quantum-ready society
The Penn experiment matters because it shows that quantum internet infrastructure can evolve on top of existing systems. For policymakers, this raises several urgent points.
Standardisation
International bodies (IETF, ITU-T, ETSI) will need to define packet structures, error correction, and interoperability rules for quantum-classical networks.
Strategic investment
Countries face a decision whether to invest early in pilot testbeds (urban campuses, healthcare systems, or government services).
Cybersecurity planning
Quantum internet deployment should be aligned with the post-quantum cryptography transition, ensuring coherence between classical and quantum security measures.
Public trust
As with any critical infrastructure, clear communication will be needed to explain how quantum-secured systems benefit citizens and why governments are investing in them.
Key takeaways for policymakers
Quantum internet is governance, not just science. The Penn breakthrough shows that quantum signals can run on today’s networks, shifting the conversation from pure research to infrastructure and policy planning.
Governments should treat the quantum internet as a strategic asset, protecting national administrations, elections, and critical services from future cyber threats.
Early adoption in health systems could secure patient data, telemedicine, and medical research, strengthening public trust in digital services.
International cooperation (IETF, ITU-T, ETSI) will be needed to define protocols, interoperability, and security frameworks before large-scale rollouts.
Policymakers should align quantum network deployment with the global transition to post-quantum encryption, ensuring coherence across digital security strategies.
Governments could start with small-scale testbeds (smart cities, e-government nodes, or healthcare networks) to build expertise and shape standards from within.
Why does it matter?
The University of Pennsylvania’s ‘Q-Chip’ is a proof-of-concept that quantum and classical networks can speak the same language. While technical challenges remain, especially around scaling and quantum repeaters, the political and societal questions can no longer be postponed.
The quantum internet is not just a scientific project. It is emerging as a strategic infrastructure for the digital state of the future. Governments, regulators, and international organisations must begin preparing today so that tomorrow’s networks deliver speed and efficiency, trust, sovereignty, and resilience.
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