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NEW DELHI :On 28 November, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Indias largest IT services company, partnered with Amazon Web Services to set up a quantum computing lab for building applications. On 12 April, TCS announced that it would not cut down on its research and development spending despite an expected industry-wide tech spending decline in FY24. And, on 19 April, the Centres decision to launch a 6,004 crore National Quantum Mission came as a shot in the arm for the company. In an interview, K. Ananth Krishnan, the chief technology officer of TCS, spoke about the companys investment plans for new technologies, hiring and more. Edited excerpts:

NEW DELHI :On 28 November, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Indias largest IT services company, partnered with Amazon Web Services to set up a quantum computing lab for building applications. On 12 April, TCS announced that it would not cut down on its research and development spending despite an expected industry-wide tech spending decline in FY24. And, on 19 April, the Centres decision to launch a 6,004 crore National Quantum Mission came as a shot in the arm for the company. In an interview, K. Ananth Krishnan, the chief technology officer of TCS, spoke about the companys investment plans for new technologies, hiring and more. Edited excerpts:

How is TCS investing in new areas amid the projected uncertainties in tech spending in FY24?

How is TCS investing in new areas amid the projected uncertainties in tech spending in FY24?

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We will continue to make new tech investments based on four key parameters and business returns. For instance, quantum computing has been a buzzword for over a decade, but we did not make any investments until 2016-17. Today, we make a cumulative research and innovation investment of 30-40% of our total innovation and R&D expenditure on initiatives such as quantum computing, which are showing early signs of business interest.

(In FY22, TCS spent 2,178 crore in innovation and R&D. Its FY23 innovation and R&D spending was not available. Samir Seksaria, the chief financial officer of TCS, said during its FY23 earnings call that it would not cut down on investments in this segment, despite a projected downturn for FY24.)

Beyond this, will we be making investments specifically for quantum computing? Yes, because it is a long-term play. Today, we have just a mid-double-digit number of members working on it. However, the case is strong for us to invest more, even if it does not offer immediate returns.

Talking of new tech, are clients still interested in the metaverse, now that the bubble has burst?

The tech underpinning the metaverse buzzword has been augmented and virtual reality, collaboration platforms, blockchain and visual interfaces. The core tech areas remain persistent among clients and are evolving as there are specific use cases that people have been trying to solve. The tech interest continues in areas of very specific solutions built on augmented reality, minus the buzzwords. We have seen sufficient investments in avatar-based presence. We are still executing projects quietly, minus the drum-beating. Practical use cases are finding traction with AR in manufacturing for component simulation, and banking, financial services and insurance.

Quantum computing is expensive. How is TCS optimizing access to hardware?

After two decades of development, today, all global commercial quantum computing vendors are active in India. Several of them have made their simulators available, while a few brought the actual quantum hardware here. The number of qubits in their machines has already crossed triple digits, and some exploratory work can be done on the devices. Were actively engaging with these partners to gain access to quantum computing power.

What interests have businesses shown in terms of early access to quantum computing?

Technology is progressing steadily. Were still about three to four years away from practical, mainstream applications perhaps more. Another decade is the most probable stage where real problems will start getting solved. But, right now is when active business scenarios in financial services, manufacturing, life sciences and chemistry are starting to develop. Businesses are asking whether there are good quantum machines with better quality qubits than we have now and what problems could be solved. Supply chain optimization is the fifth sector that is also interested in it. TCS is looking to build research bandwidth on these factors. Were working with all technology vendors and their hardware and using our reach to these industrial segments to start building use cases for specific problems that can be encoded into various quantum technologies.

Which sectors have shown interest in exploring quantum applications?

In BFSI, portfolio optimization, forecasting and wealth management in the capital markets are key use cases. We have good simulation techniques and algorithms for maximizing returns on portfolios, and minimizing and maximizing risks as part of quantum applications. Post-quantum cryptography is an area of interest. BFSI clients are talking to us about these applications to understand how much time they had before they were to act and improve their infrastructure. In manufacturing, aerospace and applications, such as material chemistry and material design, are being explored.

Achieving quantum supremacy will help revolutionize basic materials research, which will be crucial for manufacturers, aerospace and battery makers.

The third sector that is drawing interest right now is optimization. This pertains to logistics and aviation too. In the latter, right now, whenever any disruption occurs due to any unexpected circumstance, only about a tenth of a clients network is readily optimized to bring operations back online and recovering the rest takes days. In theory, quantum machines can do real-time optimization of the whole network of a typical airline with over 100 aeroplanes. We might be a decade away from such an application, but questions are already being asked by our clients on the impact of quantum computing on flight operations or customer care.

Is there interest in collaboration with academia on new technologies?

There are multiple academic institutions taking on quantum initiatives IISER, Pune, has a quantum hub that has been active for the past few years. It is part of the national mission for cyber-physical systems and is being funded as a Section 8 company, with a board of directors that includes TCS as well. Others, such as IISc, IIT Madras and TIFR, are also involved in various quantum research initiatives IIT Madras is developing quantum communications, while TIFR is building superconducting qubits, and IISc is developing quantum algorithms.

All of these institutes are also linked to the TCS research group. We started it about six years ago and have double-digit members of the research community now. We actively partner with research institutes and regularly publish research papers on topics such as quantum chemistry, benchmarking, post-quantum cryptography and quantum communications.

Do Indian institutes offer enough talent to hire for quantum computing and research?

We are indeed looking at Indian institutes since this is our largest base, and a lot of our quantum engineering and research teams are India-based. Can we take more in? Yes, and this is where our academia partnerships come in handy. Not all the people we work with necessarily need to be within TCS Research and Innovation unless they are being hired for a core IP of ours. We do this internationally as well. A double-digit workforce for this is where we are.

Is there enough supply for talent? This is where hype would help, and initiatives such as the National Quantum Mission would come in.

Is there a timeframe for TCS to upskill its workforce in quantum computing?

Skilling, of course, is important. A lot of engineers are getting into this to understand the new technologies. The next two to three years will see most of the foundational work done in quantum research as well as technologies, which is when the talent for this sector will develop. During this time, well see good-enough machines become available, and more interesting applications will also become available. That will make building on these technologies feasible, too. For us, itll be important to hire people with backgrounds in quantum capabilities.

Originally posted here:
Business interest in quantum already starting to develop | Mint - Mint