Horizon Quantum Computing Pte. NASDAQ: HQ is positioning itself as a software-focused company in the quantum computing sector, aiming to build a hardware-agnostic development environment that can help developers write code for multiple types of quantum computers, Chairman and CEO Dr. Joseph Fitzsimons said during a Canaccord Genuity event. The session was hosted by Kingsley Crane, technology analyst at Canaccord Genuity, who said the timing of the discussion was notable given recent progress in quantum error correction and increased government investment in the sector. Crane said the U.S. Department of Commerce announced $2 billion in awards to nine quantum companies, adding that sovereign capital is “flowing in at scale.” Crane described Horizon Quantum as “more of a pure software play,” noting that the company completed its merger with dMY Squared in March and has traded on Nasdaq under the ticker HQ since March 20. Horizon Focuses on Quantum Software Layer Fitzsimons said Horizon Quantum is working to create software that enables quantum computers to solve meaningful problems, rather than focusing on building quantum hardware. He said quantum computers, like conventional computers, need software to perform useful work. “It’s not enough to simply have a number of well-controlled qubits,” Fitzsimons said. “You actually need to decide what you want to do with them to turn that to solve a particular problem.” He said Horizon’s goal is to create a path toward the “automatic acceleration” of code written for conventional computers. The company is targeting industries such as finance, pharmaceuticals, machine learning, energy, aerospace and defense, where domain experts may not be quantum computing specialists. Fitzsimons said quantum computers’ key advantage is their ability to exploit quantum interference, but he added that humans do not have natural intuition for using that capability. Horizon is trying to automate the construction of quantum algorithms