| |DECEMBER 20249TECH MINTFlipkart, India's largest ecommerce firm valued at $36 billion is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming year with a definite timeline of 12-15 months, as per reports.The proposed listing, likely to be the largest share issue by a new-economy company, will mark a seminal moment for the country's startup sector which is now regarded as the third largest worldwide.The Walmart-owned company is aiming for a public sale of shares by the end of the upcoming calendar year or in the first quarter of 2026 after obtaining internal permissions to relocate its headquarters from Singapore to India, which is considered a prelude to an IPO.About a dozen cutting-edge companies are gearing up for the bourses in 2025, with Flipkart's India IPO at the top of the list. This comes after several consumer internet companies, such as Zomato, Nykaa, and Swiggy, successfully listed, sparking interest in Indian startups from retail investors.Additionally, the major in internet commerce has raised almost $1 billion this year, including $350 million from Google. Since late 2021, it has been actively discussing preparations for an IPO; however, due to unfavorable market conditions in 2022­2023, the conversations were halted.However, the sources claimed that interest in a public share sale at the Bengaluru-based company has increased due to the recent wave of consumer firms' initial public offerings (IPOs) in India. When Walmart bought the majority stake in Flipkart in 2018, this was also a part of the agreement.In the past year or so, international peers like Coupang in South Korea have achieved significant progress in public markets, paving the way for e-commerce value multiples. Google reveals a new quantum computing chip that it said was a breakthrough that could bring practical quantum computing closer to reality.According to Google Quantum AI founder Hartmut Neven, a custom chip called `Willow' does in minutes what it would take leading supercomputers 10 septillion years to complete."Written out, there is a 1 with 25 zeros. A mind-boggling number," says Hartmut.Hartmut team of about 300 people at Google is on a mission to build quantum computing capable of handling otherwise unsolvable problems like safe fusion power and stopping climate change."We see Willow as an important step in our journey to build a useful quantum computer with practical applications in areas like drug discovery, fusion energy, battery design, and more," says Google CEO Sundar Pichai.Although it will take years for a quantum computer to solve these problems, Neven and his team say Willow is a big step in that direction.Superfast quantum computing is still in its infancy, but scientists think it will someday spur innovation across various industries.Both China and the United States have been making significant investments in quantum research, which is regarded as a crucial sector. Washington has also imposed limits on the export of the delicate technology.In October, independent quantum technology specialist Olivier Ezratty told AFP that over the previous five years, public and commercial investment in the subject has reached almost $20 billion globally.Ordinary computers operate in a binary form, utilizing bits--tiny data chunks that are always stated as either 1 or 0--to complete operations.However, qubits--fragments of data that can be both 1 and 0 at the same time--allow quantum computers to process a vast number of possible outcomes at once. GOOGLE REVEALS A NEW QUANTUM COMPUTING CHIPFLIPKART PLANS FOR IPO WITH A DEFINITE TIMELINE OF 12-15 MONTHS
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