The Hidden Shortcut in Nature: How Quantum Tunneling Lets Particles Break the Rules
Advanced Computing, AI/ML, Chips, and Extended Reality
Good morning,
Quantum Mechanics for Dummies, Part 4
Quantum Tunneling: How particles cheat the rules
Ever stared at a wall and wished you could just walk through it? In our everyday world, that's pure fantasy. But in the quantum realm, particles do just that—without any magic or sci-fi gadgets.
We used to think that if something doesn’t have enough energy, it simply can’t overcome a barrier. You’d imagine a tiny particle facing a wall would just bounce back, right?
But here's what everyone misses: Quantum tunneling isn’t about climbing over a barrier—it’s about appearing on the other side as if the barrier was never there.
The Surprising Mechanics Behind Tunneling
Picture a marble rolling toward a hill. In the classical world, if the marble lacks enough energy, it stops at the hill’s base. But in the quantum world, particles are a blend of waves and matter. Their wavefunctions don't just vanish at the barrier—they gradually fade, allowing a small, yet measurable chance for the particle to "pop up" beyond the hill.
The crazy thing is that quantum tunneling lets particles bypass energy hurdles altogether, challenging our fundamental understanding of cause and effect. Instead of needing extra energy to go over the barrier, the particle’s inherent uncertainty gives it a probability to be found on the other side. This isn't a defect in measurement—it’s the way nature truly works at the smallest scales.
Why Quantum Tunneling Matters
Everyday Tech: Devices like the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) rely on tunneling to capture images at the atomic level.
Cosmic Reactions: In the hearts of stars, quantum tunneling is a key driver of nuclear fusion, powering the very light that reaches our eyes.
Future Innovations: Understanding tunneling is paving the way for breakthroughs in quantum computing and advanced electronics.
The Bigger Picture
Quantum tunneling upends our classical view of the world. It shows that, at the microscopic level, nature doesn’t always follow the “common sense” rules we rely on in everyday life. Instead, it uses probabilities and uncertainties to create outcomes that, while rare, can have profound impacts on technology and our understanding of the universe.
Next week, we’re going to explore another mind-bending aspect of quantum physics: quantum entanglement, and how particles can remain mysteriously connected no matter how far apart they are—a concept critical to quantum communications.
By the way, something special is coming for our most dedicated readers. More details soon.
Alright, let’s dig in to the news.
News Headlines
Personnel from Elon Musk's DOGE arrive at the Pentagon (RT)
DOGE wants to be notified of any attempts at oversight—including from Congress (BBG)
Senator Mitch McConnell makes a lonely stand against President Trump (WSJ)
The bull market is getting too frothy: investors (WSJ)
DOGE gets DOGE’d; personnel from Musk’s agency dismissed (NG)
Chinese anger over State Department website removal of language on Taiwanese independence (BBC)
Starmer: U.K. ready to put troops in Ukraine (ABC)
Quantum Tech
Senators introduce $2.5B bill to advance U.S. quantum research (QI)
Time could flow both backward, forward in quantum realm, suggests study (IE)
Quantum computing is closer than ever; everyone is too busy to pay attention (WSJ)
Quantum computing breakthrough brings us closer to universal simulation (SD)
General Dynamics Information Technologies, IonQ announce partnership to develop quantum solutions for U.S. customers (BW)
Oxford scientists say they’ve achieved quantum teleportation (FM)
D-Wave QC used in simulating universal decay (HPC)
AI / ML
Ex-Google boss fears for AI 'bin Laden scenario' (BBC)
Vance offers an 'America First' argument on AI deregulation in his first foreign policy speech (AP)
SoftBank is exploring debt-heavy financing for the $500B Stargate AI push (BBG)
OpenAI has 'talked with gov't officials' about DeepSeek's alleged misuse of data: OpenAI exec (TC)
ChatGPT may not be as power-hungry as once assumed (TC)
OpenAI tries to ‘uncensor’ ChatGPT (TC)
Board of OpenAI unanimously rejected Musk takeover offer (TC)
Perplexity launches its own freemium ‘deep research’ product (TC)
NanoTech / Chips
Paragraf is building a ‘blank canvas’ graphene foundry (IS)
After DeepSeek ‘wake up call’, Trump faces monumental AI chip war decision (IBD)
Trump says Taiwan took away U.S. chip business and he wants it back (RT)
Taiwan agrees to talks, says ‘no need for one country to control chip industry (RT)
Arm secures Meta as one of its first customers for its chips as it seeks to compete with Nvidia (FT)
OpenAI set to finalize its first custom chip design this year (RT)
U.S. chip toolmaker Lam Research to invest over $1 billion in India (RT)
Sources: Trump prepares to change CHIPS Act conditions (RT)
AR / VR / XR
Anduril, Microsoft partner to advance Army’s IVAS AR system (MS)
Lumus and Schott aim to make lightweight AR glasses into mainstream products (VB)
Deal Flow
VC
Musk’s xAI is in talks to raise a $10B round from investors including Sequoia, a16z, and Valor Equity Partners at a $75B valuation (BBG)
AI chip startup Groq secured a $1.5B commitment from Saudi Arabia (PRN)
Quantum computing startup QuEra raised a $230M round led by Google (TC)
EnCharge raised a $100M Series B led by Tiger Global to accelerate AI using analog chips (TC)
Positron raised a $23.5M round from a group of investors including Flume Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Resilience Reserve to design and manufacture energy-efficient, made-in-America AI chips (BW)
Dev AI, a startup building agentic AI solutions, raised a $6M seed round led by Emergence Capital (SA)
PE / M&A / Exits / Other
NXP Semiconductors agreed to acquire neural processing unit maker Kinara in a $307M all-cash deal (SA)
QuEra raised $230M in debt to accelerate development of large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers (TC)
Meta is in talks to buy Seoul-based AI accelerator chip developer FuriosaAI to run advanced AI models (KED)
Opportunities
DIU is seeking digital engineering platform to accelerate the design and validation of integrated circuits (DIU)
Editor’s Picks
Terrance Alsup offers a look under the hood of transfomers, the engine driving AI model evolution.
Matthew Sparkes believes that geopolitics have been holding back quantum computing.
Lighter Side
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