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For the past decade, quantum computing has struggled to balance promise and practicality. While the worlds most advanced systems remain engineering marvels, theyre bedeviled by the same flaw: the fragility of qubitsthe fundamental units of quantum dataand the delicate hardware required to control them. A single fluctuation, for example, can collapse a quantum state, invalidating a computation. Most quantum systems also depend on large-scale refrigeration colder than deep space, with cryogenic racks that often occupy multiple rooms. Scaling quantum systems demands exponential increases in cost, energy, and environmental stability. So while the U.N. has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, for all its scientific significance, quantums commercial trajectory remains narrow. But Japanese conglomerate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) is attempting to rewrite that equation. In partnership with Japan-based quantum technology developer OptQC, NTT is attempting to break current orthodoxy through what is known as optical quantum computing, which uses photons instead of electrical currents to perform calculations. Since photons generate less heat compared to electron-based systems and can travel without resistance, these systems consume far less power. NTT argues that optical systems can be faster and more energy-efficient, forming the basis for greener, more sustainable computing. This combination not only accelerates computational capability but also reduces environmental impact, positioning quantum technology as a foundation for a sustainable digital future, says Shingo Kinoshita, SVP and head of R&D planning at NTT. Rather than relying on cooling systems, NTTs design utilizes light sources and error-correction technologies developed under its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative. Japans broader industrial strategy sits just beneath the surface of this partnership. With the U.S. and China locked in geopolitical competition over quantum supremacy, Japans photonic-first model is being positioned as an alternative: one that favors energy efficiency and manufacturability over extreme-environment engineering. Today, the energy footprint of AI is emerging as a global challenge. Optical quantum computing processes information with light, enabling dramatically lower power consumption and scalable qubit growth through optical multiplexing, Kinoshita says. A million-qubit road map The approach builds on a series of rapid scientific breakthroughs across Japans quantum ecosystem. Over the past year, NTTalongside RIKEN, Fixstars Amplify, the University of Tokyo, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technologydemonstrated the worlds first general-purpose optical quantum computing platform capable of running calculations without any external cooling. The upcoming platform fits inside a single room, a feat that many leading quantum systems developers cant claim. NTT and OptQC outlined a five-year plan leading to the 2030 milestone. During the first year, the companies will conduct technical studies and begin codesigning while identifying early use cases with external partners. In the second year, they plan to build complete development environments for hardware and software. In year three, they expect to begin verifying enterprise use cases such as drug development, financial optimization, materials science, and climate modeling. The final phase will focus on scaling the system to reach millions of qubits and making it reliable enough to handle real-world use cases, thereby preparing the technology for adoption among companies, governments, and industries. Qubits must scale into the thousands for quantum computing to surpass the current capabilities of AI. Unlike classical bits used in general-purpose computing systems, which exist as 0 or 1, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, enabling exponentially faster processing of complex calculations. The 2030 vision of 1 million qubits is not just about performance, its about redefining how we align advanced computing with planetary limits, Kinoshita says. In the near term, as we aim for 10,000 qubits by 2027, the first impact will be within NTTs own communications infrastructure. Japans photonic bet to power AI As AI models grow in size and complexity, the demand for simulation, optimization, and high-dimensional problem-solving has also increased exponentially. NTT asserts that photonic quantum systems will become essential accelerators for next-generation AI and telecom networks such as 6G. In classical systems, electrical signals travel through semiconductor processors. Photonic systems replace those electrons with light, transmitting information through properties such as photon number, polarization, and amplitude. However, practical commercial quantum computing requires a scale of 1 million logical qubits, along with reliable quantum error correction, a mechanism that detects and corrects the subtle errors qubits constantly make. Todays machineseven the most advanced systems by IBM, Google, and otherssit orders of magnitude below that mark and remain extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances. NTT claims that photonics changes the math. Scaling to 1 million qubits by 2030 and then moving into mass deployment will demand a robust supply chain. Achieving high-performance quantum light sources and improving yield in precision fabrication will be critical steps, Kinoshita explains. In essence, this means NTT must be able to reliably manufacture the key components, such as high-quality light sources, and improve production yields so the hardware can be built at scale. By 2030, with 1 million qubits, the scope expands beyond telecom,” he adds. “NTT plans to explore these opportunities through partnerships with leaders in chemistry, finance, and industrial sectors. The global stakes of a photonic strategy This is not the first attempt at room-temperature quantum hardware, as companies like Sydney-based Quantum Brilliance are also pursuing cryogenics-free architectures. Quantum Brilliance is targeting edge and data-center deployments with compact photonic-inspired diamond devices, while Atom Computing, headquartered in Berkeley, Calfornia, is building large-scale, room-temperature systems that use neutral atoms. We truly believe that optically controllable neutral atom qubits allow a level of flexibility and practicality to the challenge of controlling millions of qubits with high-fidelity, low-crosstalk signals at room temperature, says Ben Bloom, founder and CEO of Atom Computing. But NTT argues that photons, not electrons or atoms, offer an architecture capable of reaching true commercial scale. Its thesis is simple: Light is inherently more stable, generates less heat, and is ultimately more manufacturable than any matter-based system. This shift transforms quantum computing from a niche technology into a broadly available resource,” Kinoshita says. Still, experts caution that the light-based computation path comes with its own unresolved challenges. Photonics faces significant challenges that often get glossed over in the roomtemperature narrative, says Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at Boston-based QuEra Computing. You need near-perfect sources and detectors at scale, plus efficient photon-photon interactions, which don’t occur naturally and require complex optical elements. The engineering complexity of building a fault-tolerant photonic quantum computer with thousands of high-fidelity qubits is immense. If NTT stays on track, the worlds first million-qubit system may come from a room-temperature optical platform in Tokyo, engineered for real-world use cases including molecular simulation for drug discovery and materials science, financial risk modeling, and manufacturing optimization. Beyond technology, global coordination for specialized materials and resilience against geopolitical risks remains essential, Kinoshita says. When these systems can run in standard IT environments with ultra-low power consumption and rack-scale integration, enterprises will see cost-effective performance, governments will recognize strategic advantage, and the public will experience tangible benefits like greener networks and faster innovation. That moment will mark quantums shift from experimental to essential.
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E-Commerce
On November 14, hotel and short-term apartment rental chain Sonder Holdings filed for bankruptcy, just days after suddenly announcing it would be winding down operations immediately, abruptly kicking guests to the curb and sending employees scrambling for answers. The company had faced major, unforeseen costs from a deal signed in August 2024 to integrate reservation systems with Marriott International and promote Sonder listings through the hotel giant, according to a statement issued four days earlier. Sonder had long been an outlier in the short-term rental space, which was a big part of its appeal to investors. Most of its competitorsshort-term rental companies like Kasa and AvantStay, the big hotel chains, and individual hotels and bed-and-breakfastseither own and operate their own properties or manage them on behalf of owners for a cut of revenue and profits. Sonder, by contrast, took out long-term leases on apartment units so it could rent them out for short-term stays, a business model similar to that of WeWork, the once high-flying chain of coworking spaces. But that model wound up saddling Sonder with fixed costs from long-term leases, especially rent payments. That held true even when competition or low demand limited how much it could make from guests, or other unexpected costs from factors like post-pandemic inflation or the Marriott integration added up, analysts and others in the industry tell Fast Company. We call it rental arbitrage, where you take out a long-term lease on an apartment building, and then you try to make more than that in short-term leases, says Jamie Lane, chief economist at short-term rental analytics firm AirDNA. Lane also raises the comparison to WeWork, which famously filed for bankruptcy protection in 2023, entering a court-approved restructuring plan the following year. (Sonder didnt reply to an inquiry from Fast Company.) Experts say Sonder’s failure isn’t an indictment of the short-term rental model or the larger hospitality sector writ large, but rather the result of mixing high fixed costs with variable income in a competitive marketplace. Still, other companies applying that approach to hospitality largely failed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemicand Sonders abrupt shutdown suggests investors are unlikely to back such a model again anytime soon. The broader story here is that the lease-arbitrage model has proven economically destructive across real estate cycles, says Roman Pedan, founder and CEO of hotel and apartment-rental operator Kasa, which runs more than 70 properties across the country. It’s sort of a weapona toxic weapon of financial destruction. The rental-arbitrage model In the heyday of coworking-space businesses like WeWork and before the pandemic disrupted the travel industry, the rental-arbitrage approach made sense to investors. Sonder essentially applied the WeWork model to travel lodging, replacing the traditional front desk with a tech-forward approach to check-in and guest services (made popular through Airbnb and Vrbo). Other companies with a similar model, including Stay Alfred, Domio, and Lyric, shuttered in 2020 amid pandemic travel disruptions. Many hospitality chains make money through management agreements in which they share revenue with building owners or other hotel and short-term rental operators that both own and operate their own real estate. Sonder, by contrast, leased the majority of its listings from building owners at a fixed rate, according to the companys annual report. For a time, that model made Sonder into an investor darling. Just over six years ago, the company achieved unicorn status, raising a $225 million Series D round at a $1.1 billion valuation. In 2022, the company went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger that valued the company at $2.2 billion. Sonder closed out 2024 with more than 9,900 hotel rooms and furnished apartments available for rent across 41 cities in nine countries, according to its annual report to investors. And the contract with Marriott brought in an additional $15 million in startup key money payments to Sonder since its signing last year. Sonder had gotten lucky,” Lane says. “They had raised money just before the onset of the pandemic, so they had a good war chest to sort of get them through it. And the company later got subsequent boosts from the SPAC deal (which included an additional $310 million in investments) and the Marriott arrangement. Though the industry has long faced criticism for converting long-term rentals into vacation lodging, constraining the housing supply and at times introducing disruptive travelers into quiet neighborhoods and apartment buildings, occupancy is up overall from before the pandemic, Lane adds, though numbers havent yet recovered in some major cities where Sonder offered rentals. In short, others in the industry say, the problem is with the lease-arbitrage model, not the concept of renting whole homes or apartments to tech-savvy travelers. Significant capital commitment Sonders business model may have also seemed like a boon to property developers, especially when the company would lease out entire buildings to effectively convert into apartment-style hotels, says Emir Dukic, founder and CEO of Rabbu, a real estate marketplace for short-term rental owners. The practice, though often criticized by housing advocates for taking entire buildings off the traditional rental market, saved landlords the trouble of finding individual long-term tenants. Something that usually, as a landlord, would take you a year to lease up in a building, Sonder came in and did it overnight, and made a significant capital commitment to get those leases, Dukic says. So it was a win-win situation at the time for both parties, and they were able to scale it quickly. Those apartment-style units, often larger than traditional hotel rooms, were likely appealing to Marriott for effectively expanding the chains portfolio, Dukic explains. But they were also commonly clustered in competitive urban markets with other hotel and apartent rental options nearby. Even with self-check-in and other tech features, hospitality remains a labor-intensive business, he adds. Rooms still need to be cleaned, and someone still needs to be on call around the clock to help guests with lockouts, clogged toilets, or flaky Wi-Fi. Most of Sonders inventory was subject to fixed leases, whereby we agree to a fixed periodic fee per unit that may be subject to negotiated rent escalations, according to the companys annual report. In other words, unless landlords were willing to renegotiate, those payments would remain due regardless of what room rates the company could demand, rising costs due to inflation, or the apparent failure of the Marriott agreement to significantly boost occupancy. What about the landlords? Lane and others emphasize that the short-term rental industry, which includes a mix of chain businesses and smaller operations renting houses and apartments to travelers, is still generally faring well. But what Sonders bankruptcy will mean for building owners, essentially its landlords, remains unclear. The company had already exited some 3,300 units across 85 buildings as of June 30, 2025, according to the company report, and Pedan says Kasa has taken over management of more than a dozen former Sonder properties. Kasa, which announced a $40 million investment round in August, citing more than $100 million in annual booking revenue, typically operates with a more standard hotel management contract. Kasa is responsible for day-to-day operations, including marketing, housekeeping, and pricing, while building owners are responsible for capital improvements, which can include things like HVAC and roofing upgrades. The companys agreements ensure both parties benefit when properties do well, keeping interests aligned, Pedan says. When I say aligned, I mean we want to win when the owner wins and make less when the owner is making less, he says. So we make money as a percentage of their profit and their revenue. Another short-term rental management company, AvantStay, also issued a statement on November 10 urging landlords affected by the Sonder shutdown to consider adding their buildings to AvantStays portfolio of more than 2,500 properties. The company has already connected with a big fraction of affected property owners, says founder and CEO Sean Breuner, who like others remains optimistic about the industry as a whole. I think the industry is very healthy, Breuner says. Its alive and well, and demand in aggregate is the highest its ever been since we started 10 years ago. Sonders shutdown came shortly after Marriott announced the termination of the companies deal due to Sonders default. (Marriott didnt respond to an inquiry from Fast Company.) But in a filing in the bankruptcy case, the company said it ended the agreement and reached out to guests after concerns that Sonder would abruptly lock paying customers out of their rooms. Guests who were occupying Sonder-managed properties might be prevented from retrieving their personal belongings, including medication, passports, personal effects, or other essentials, according to Marriott. Just before the bankruptcy filing, Janice Sears, interim CEO of Sonder, declared in a statement that the company had reached a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward, with guests and employees alike abruptly given notice that operations would shut down. At least two lawsuits have been filed by Sonder employees alleging the company violated federal and state laws requiring warning periods before mass layoffs. Brian Nettle, an attorney who represents a Sonder employee seeking class-action status in one of the cases, says, It’s just an unfortunate situation for plaintiffs in the class to have just lost a job suddenly.
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E-Commerce
Panera Bread is spending millions to overhaul its menu in an attempt to lure back the customers its lost in recent years. In a downward fast-food spiral, Panera hasnt significantly increased its revenue since 2023. Now, the company says its putting money back into better ingredients, staff, and its cafés. The St. Louis-based chain, known for its sandwiches, soups, and salads, hasnt been delivering on its signatures. Panera last year started using the cheaper iceberg lettuce in its salads, for example, and customers werent happy. You know what guests told us? said Paul Carbone, CEO of Panera Brands, the parent company of Panera Bread, Einstein Bros. Bagels, and Caribou Coffee. No one likes iceberg, and no one gets that and says, Oh, my god, that white salad, it looks so appetizing. Now, full romaine salads are making a comeback. In 2023, Paneras sales reached $6.5 billion, which is still about the highest it has been. The company said today that its goal is to clinch $7 billion in annual sales by 2028 from the roughly $6 billion it brings in currently. After surveying its customers, Panera found that they wanted better portions and improved cafés. The chain plans to increase portions and food variety. Its introducing drinks like frescas (fruit drinks) and energy refreshers (lower-caffeine beverages), and increasing salad toppings to eight ingredients from the regular five. Guests will notice that avocado halves and cherry tomatoes will be sliced, not whole, starting early next year. We make the guest chase the cherry tomato around the bowl, said Carbone, who assumed his role in March. Panera is also vowing to update its cafés, an important effort as around 25% of meals are eaten within restaurant walls. It had invested in kiosks for ordering, but it got to the point that customers couldnt find human employees, said Carbone. Now, the restaurant is pouring money back into labor and renovating the older café locations. What does the café of the future look like? Carbone said. Were doing a lot of work around that, were going to test different things. JAB Holding Company, the investment firm that owns Panera Brands, had planned to take the company public in 2021. The deal was broken the next year, and Carbone said its off the table until Paneras sales increase. Ava Levinson This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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