Google’s quantum-focused Sandbox division is being spun off | ZDNet

Google parent company Alphabet revealed that its Sandbox division, which focuses on quantum computing technologies, is being spun off into an independent company called SandboxAQ.

According to the now-independent firm, the “AQ stands for AI and Quantum; two key tools Sandbox uses to address pressing global challenges.” 

Sandbox was founded at Google in 2016 at Google’s Palo Alto headquarters. It focused on developing quantum technology solutions for use in practical applications. 

Now that it is being spun off, the company plans to develop solutions specifically for “telcom, financial services, healthcare, government, computer security and other computationally-intensive sectors.” The development will initially be handled by the same team of 55 engineers, scientists, and technologists that worked at the division under Alphabet’s ownership. SandboxAQ noted that its staff’s expertise ranges across “physics, chemistry, AI, neuroscience, cryptography, mathematics and other disciplines.”

Alphabet’s chairman and CEO, Eric Schmidt, Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price, TIME Ventures, and others, are on the extensive list of initial investors funding the spinoff. Schmidt will also serve as Chair of the company’s Board of Directors alongside Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital and 18 other investors, senior leaders at Google, and tech industry executives. 

SandboxAQ plans to use the cash it received during its “oversubscribed funding round” to hire additional AI experts, physicists and engineers to further develop and deliver its AI and quantum technologies. 

It noted that its customer base already includes Vodafone Business, Softbank Mobile, Mt. Sinai Health System, and deals with “other leading Global 1000 companies including Wix.”