Yudong Cao

Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Zapata Quantum

Dr. Yudong Cao is a pioneer in quantum computing and generative AI with over a decade of experience leading scientific initiatives that bridge foundational research with real-world enterprise applications. As Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Zapata Quantum, he leads the development of industrial generative AI software designed to provide scientific and computational advantages to global enterprises. Prior to rejoining Zapata, Yudong served as the Head of Quantum at BCG X, Boston Consulting Group's tech build and design unit. Throughout his career, he has personally developed a portfolio of more than 30 patents covering quantum algorithms for chemistry, optimization, and machine learning, as well as quantum-inspired classical algorithms. His recent work focuses on verification-aware quantum agents, a paradigm shift that integrates mathematical constraints directly into AI-driven quantum program generation. Yudong earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University and completed his postdoctoral research at Harvard University.