Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is teaming up with Silicon Valley startup QC Ware to investigate the use of quantum algorithms in finance.
As the promise of quantum computing inches nearer, Goldman has been working with QC Ware to explore how the technology will eventually outperform classical computers for finance applications.
Goldman and QC Ware are investigating whether quantum computing can be used with the Monte Carlo algorithm, which is used to calculate an option contract's theoretical value.
Paul Burchard, lead researcher, R&D, Goldman Sachs, says: "The research confirmed that the current state-of-the-art quantum algorithms for Monte Carlo sampling and approximate counting will eventually lead to more efficient simulation, but that these algorithms are sensitive to noise in current quantum hardware.
"As a result, implementing these algorithms on near term quantum hardware will depend on techniques analogous to importance sampling that reduce the circuit depth of these algorithms."
QC Ware is helping the bank through its Forge cloud service, which connects enterprise users with a hot of quantum computing hardware platforms and simulators. Last year, Goldman co-led QC Ware's $6.5 million Series A funding round with Citi.
Other big banks are also making early bets on quantum computing. JPMorgan Chase says it has tasked senior engineer Constantin Gonciulea with building a “quantum culture". Meanwhile, Wells Fargo is partnering IBM to accelerate its "learning efforts" related to the technology.