The UK is now facing a huge challenge: after having secured a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status is going to require some serious stepping up.

National quantum programs and decade-long quantum strategies are increasingly being announced by governments around the world. And as countries unlock billions-worth of budgets, it is becoming clear that a furious competition is gradually unrolling. Nations want to make sure that they are the place-to-be when quantum technologies start showing some real-world value and the UK, for one, is keen to prove that it is a quantum hotspot in the making.

"We have a very successful program that is widely admired and emulated around the world," said Peter Knight, who sits on the strategic advisory for the UK's national quantum technology program (NQTP), as he provided a virtual update on the NQTP's performance so far.

Speaking at an online conference last month, Knight seemed confident. The UK, said the expert, in line with the objectives laid out in the program, is on track to become "the go-to place" for new quantum companies to start, and for established businesses to base all manners of innovative quantum activities.

SEE: Hiring Kit: Computer Hardware Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)

The UK is just over halfway through the NQTP, which saw its second five-year phase kick off at the end of 2019, and at the same timehit an impressive milestone of 1 billion ($1.37 billion) combined investment. This, the government claims, is letting the UK keep pace with competitors who are also taking interest in quantum namely, the US and China.

There is no doubt that the country has made strides in the field of quantum since the start of the NQTP. New ground-breaking research papers are popping up on a regular basis, and so are news reports of rounds of funding from promising quantum startups.

But with still just under half of the national quantum program to carry out, and despite the huge sums already invested, the UK is now facing a bigger challenge yet: after having chased a top spot in the quantum race, retaining the country's status in the face of ferocious competition is going to require some serious stepping up.

Clearly playing in favor of the UK is the country's early involvement in the field. The NQTP was announced as early as 2013, and started operating in 2014, with an initial 270 million ($370 million) budget. The vision laid out in the program includes creating a "quantum-enabled economy", in which the technology would significantly contribute to the UK's economy and attract both strong investment and global talent.

"The national program was one of the first to kick off," Andrew Fearnside, senior associate specializing in quantum technologies at intellectual property firm Mewburn Ellis, tells ZDNet. "There are increasingly more national programs emerging in other countries, but they are a good few years behind us. The fact that there has been this sustained and productive long-term government initiative is definitely attractive."

The EU's Quantum Technologies Flagship, in effect,only launched in 2018; some countries within the bloc,like France, started their own quantum roadmaps on top of the European initiative even later. Similarly, the National Quantum Initiative Act wassigned into law by the Trump administration but that was also in 2018, years into the UK's national quantum technology program.

Since it launched in 2014, there has been abundant evidence of the academic successes of the initial phase of the NQTP. In Birmingham, the Quantum Sensing Hub is developing new types of quantum-based magnetic sensors that could help diagnose brain and heart conditions, while the Quantum Metrology Institute leads the development of quantum atomic clocks. There are up to 160 research groups and universities registered across the UK withprograms that are linked to quantum technologies, working on projects ranging from the design of quantum algorithms to the creation of new standards and verification methods.

A much harder challenge, however, is to transform this strong scientific foundation into business value and as soon as the UK government announced the second phase of the NQTP at the end of 2019,a clear messageemerged: quantum technology needed to come out of the lab, thanks to increased private sector investment that would accelerate commercialization.

Some key initiatives followed. A national quantum computing center was established for academics to work alongside commercial partners such as financial services company Standard Chartered, "possibly with an eye on financial optimization problems," notes Fearnside, given the business'established interest in leveraging quantum technologies. A 10 million ($13 million) "Discovery" program alsolaunched a few months ago, bringing together five quantum computing companies, three universities and the UK's national physical laboratory all for the purpose of making quantum work for businesses.

The government's efforts have been, to an extent, rewarded. The quantum startup ecosystem is thriving in the UK, with companies like Riverlane or Cambridge Quantum Computing completing strong rounds of private financing. In total, up to 204 quantum-related businesses have been listed so far in the country.

But despite these encouraging results, the UK is still faced with a big problem. Bringing university-born innovation to the real worldhas always been a national challenge, and quantum is no exception. A 2018 report from the Science and Technology committee, in fact,gave an early warning of the stumbling blocksthat the NQTP might run into, and stressed the need for improved awareness across industry of the potential of quantum technologies.

The committee urged the government to start conveying the near-term benefits that quantum could provide to businesses something that according to the report, CEOs and company chairs in North America worryingly seem to realize a whole lot better.

It's been three years since the report was published, and things haven't changed much. Speaking at the same forum as the NQTP's Peter Knight, Ian West, a partner at consultancy firm KPMG, said that there remained a huge barrier to the widespread take-up of quantum technologies in the UK. "Some of our clients feel they don't understand the technology, or feel it's one for the academics only," he argued.

"We need that demand from businesses who will be the ultimate users of quantum technologies, to encourage more investment," West added. "We need to do much more to explain the near-term and medium-term use cases for business applications of quantum technologies."

SEE: BMW explores quantum computing to boost supply chain efficiencies

Without sufficient understanding of the technology, funding problems inevitably come. The difficulty of securing private money for quantum stands in stark contrast to the situation across the Atlantic, where investors have historically done a better job of spotting and growing successful technology companies. Add the deep pockets of tech giants such as Google, IBM or Microsoft, which are all pouring money into quantum research, and it is easy to see why North America might have better prospects when it comes to winning the quantum game.

In the worst of cases, this has led to US technology hubs hoovering up some of the best quantum brains in the UK. In 2019, for example, PsiQ, a promising startup that was founded at the University of Bristol with the objective of producing a commercial quantum computer, re-located to Silicon Valley. The movewas reported to be partly motivated by a lack of access to capital in Europe. It was a smart decision: according to the company's latest update, PsiQ hasnow raised $215 million (156 million) in VC funding.

Pointing to the example of PsiQ, Simon King, partner and deep tech investor at VC firm Octopus Ventures, explains that to compete against the US, the UK needs to up its game when it comes to assessing the startups that show promise, and making sure that they are injected with adequate cash.

"The US remains the biggest competitor, with a big concentration of universities and academics and the pedigree and culture of commercializing university research," King tells ZDNet. "Things are definitely moving in the right direction, but the UK and Europe still lag behind the US, where there is a deeper pool of capital and there are more investors willing to invest in game-changing, but long-term technology like quantum."

US-based private investors are only likely to increase funding for the quantum ecosystem in the coming years, and significant amounts of public money will be backing the technology too. The National Quantum Initiative Act that was signed in 2018 came with $1.2 billion (870 million) to be invested in quantum information science over the next five years; as more quantum companies flourish, the budget can be expected to expand even further.

Competition will be coming from other parts of the world as well. In addition to the European Commission's 1 billion ($1.20 billion) quantum flagship, EU countries are also spending liberally on the technology. Germany, in particular, has launched a 2 billion ($2.4 billion) funding program for the promotion of quantum technologies in the country, surpassing by far many of its competitors; but France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are all increasingly trying to establish themselves as hubs for quantum startups and researchers.

SEE: Less is more: IBM achieves quantum computing simulation for new materials with fewer qubits

Little data is available to measure the scope of the commercialization of quantum technology in China, but the country has made no secret of its desire to secure a spot in the quantum race, too. The Chinese government has ramped up its spending on research and development, and the impact of that investment has already shown in the countryachieving some significant scientific breakthroughs in the field.

In the midst of this ever-more competitive landscape, whether the UK can effectively distinguish itself as the "go-to place" for quantum technologies remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: the country has laid some very strong groundwork to compete. "The UK has some genuinely world-class universities with some really brilliant academics, so while the objective is certainly ambitious, it's not out of the question," argues King.

But even top-notch researchers and some of the most exciting quantum startups might not cut it. The UK has positioned itself well from an early stage in the quantum race, but becoming a frontrunner was only one part of the job. Preserving the country's position for the coming years might prove to be the hardest challenge yet.

See more here:
The global quantum computing race has begun. What will it take to win it? - ZDNet

The early adoption of quantum computing in the banking and finance sector is expected to fuel the growth of the market globally. Other key factors contributing to the growth of the quantum computing market include rising investments by governments of different countries to carry out research and development activities related to quantum computing technology.

New York, Feb. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Quantum Computing Market with COVID-19 impact by Offering, Deployment, Application, Technology, End-use Industry and Region - Global Forecast to 2026" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05064748/?utm_source=GNW Several companies are focusing on the adoption of QCaaS post-COVID-19. This, in turn, is expected to contribute to the growth of the quantum computing market. However, stability and error correction issues is expected to restrain the growth of the market.

Services segment is attributed to hold the largest share of the Quantum Computing marketThe growth of services segment can be attributed to the increasing number of startups across the world that are investing in research and development activities related to quantum computing technology. This technology is used in optimization, simulation, and machine learning applications, thereby leading to optimum utilization costs and highly efficient operations in various end-use industries.

Cloud based deployment to witness the highest growth in Quantum Computing market in coming yearsWith the development of highly powerful systems, the demand for cloud-based deployment of quantum computing systems and services is expected to increase.This, in turn, is expected to result in a significant revenue source for service providers, with users paying for access to noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) systems that can solve real-world problems.

The limited lifespan of rapidly advancing quantum computing systems also favors cloud service providers.The flexibility of access offered to users is another factor fueling the adoption of cloud-based deployment of quantum computing systems and services.

For the foreseeable future, quantum computers are expected not to be portable. Cloud can provide users with access to different devices and simulators from their laptops.

Optimization accounted for a major share of the overall Quantum Computing marketOptimization is the largest application for quantum computing and accounted for a major share of the overall Quantum Computing market.Companies such as D-Wave Systems, Cambridge Quantum Computing, QC Ware, and 1QB Information Technologies are developing quantum computing systems for optimization applications.

Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub (NQIT) is expanding to incorporate optimization solutions for resolving problems faced by the practical applications of quantum computing technology.

Trapped ions segment to witness highest CAGR of Quantum Computing market during the forecast periodThe trapped ions segment of the market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period as quantum computing systems based on trapped ions offer more stability and better connectivity than quantum computing systems based on other technologies. IonQ, Alpine Quantum Technologies, and Honeywell are a few companies that use trapped ions technology in their quantum computing systems.

Banking and finance is attributed to hold major share of Quantum Computing market during the forecast periodIn the banking and finance end-use industry, quantum computing is used for risk modeling and trading applications.It is also used to detect the market instabilities by identifying stock market risks and optimize the trading trajectories, portfolios, and asset pricing and hedging.

As the financial sector is difficult to understand; the quantum computing approach is expected to help users understand the complexities of the banking and finance end-use industry. Moreover, it can help traders by suggesting them solutions to overcome financial challenges.

APAC to witness highest growth of Quantum Computing market during the forecast periodAPAC region is a leading hub for several industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, and chemicals.Countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea are the leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, including smartphones, laptops, and gaming consoles, in APAC.

There is a requirement to resolve complications in optimization, simulation, and machine learning applications across these industries.The large-scale development witnessed by emerging economies of APAC and the increased use of advanced technologies in the manufacturing sector are contributing to the development of large and medium enterprises in the region.

This, in turn, is fueling the demand for quantum computing services and systems in APAC.In APAC, the investments look promising, as most countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea have successfully contained the virus compared with the US and European countries.China is easing the restrictions placed on factory lockdowns and worker movement.

Despite being the epicenter of COVID-19, China has maintained its dominant position as a global network leader.

The break-up of primary participants for the report has been shown below: By Company Type: Tier 1 - 18%, Tier 2 - 22%, and Tier 3 - 60% By Designation: C-level Executives - 21%, Manager Level - 35%, and Others - 44% By Region: North America - 45%, Europe - 38%, APAC - 12%, and RoW - 5%

The Quantum Computing market was dominated by International Business Machines (US), D-Wave Systems (Canada), Microsoft (US), Amazon (US), and Rigetti Computing (US).

Research Coverage:This research report categorizes the Quantum Computing based on offering, deployment, application, technology, end-use industry and region. The report describes the major drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities pertaining to the Quantum Computing market and forecasts the same till 2026.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report

The report would help leaders/new entrants in this market in the following ways:1. This report segments the Quantum Computing market comprehensively and provides the closest market size projection for all subsegments across different regions.2. The report helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provides them with information on key drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities for market growth.3. This report would help stakeholders understand their competitors better and gain more insights to improve their position in the business. The competitive landscape section includes product launches and developments, partnerships, and collaborations.4. This report would help understand the pre and post-COVID-19 scenarios as to how would the penetration of quantum computing will look like for the forecast period. The region segment includes the country wise impact analysis of COVID-19 and initiatives taken to overcome these impacts.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05064748/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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The Quantum Computing market is expected to grow from USD 472 million in 2021 to USD 1,765 million by 2026, at a CAGR of 30.2% - Yahoo Finance

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Fujitsu partnered with Entanglement, Inc. to demonstrate and validate the capabilities of the Digital Annealer (DA), a quantum-inspired computing platform and related services, to address large scale logistical combinatorial optimization challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other intractable challenges facing humankind.

From the beginning of the pandemic, provisioning Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to high demand areas continues to pose an enormous logistical challenge. Through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Department of Defense, Fujitsu and Entanglement offered to deliver a theoretical nationwide optimization model to solve the challenge, optimizing the equitable resource allocation of the potentially available stock of PPE in the United States, while minimizing the mileage and time traveled to emerging hotspots.

A report prepared by the CRADA validated that this highly complex, combinatorial challenge is solvable in seconds using the DA solution, versus days or weeks for other traditional computing algorithms. In fact, one metric in the report the efficiency of overall supply and demand allocation showed the DA outperformed a comparative Evolutionary Algorithm by 90 percent. Using real-time data from an array of public and private sources, Digital Annealer efficiency increases exponentially with the addition of diverse variables and larger datasets.

"Traditional logistics tools are simply too slow and incapable of managing the complexities of these huge combinatorial problems," said Jason Turner, CEO of Entanglement, Inc. "Fujitsu's Digital Annealing technology and related services, in combination with our advanced computational and quantum computing expertise, not only solve these problems quickly, but do so in a way that is scalable, effective, iterative, equitable, and transparent. The best part? The more complex the problem, the more it shines, producing evermore accurate and efficient results the more its stressed."

Fujitsu and Entanglement formed their partnership in May of 2020 based on their common core values, which together aim to deliver advanced technology ecosystems that assist in solving large-scale, human-centric problems for end users. Fujitsu intellectual property and DA technology, combined with Entanglement's intellectual property, domain experience and commitment to demonstrate and accelerate quantum information science and artificial intelligence, created an optimum environment for the two companies to spotlight computing capabilities beyond the reach of traditional computing systems in the market today, and make a significant impact.

"While our initial collaborations centered on commercial prospects leveraging the emerging mobility ecosystem, the COVID-19 pandemic made it abundantly clear we needed to redeploy our conceptual thinking and quickly offer new models that accelerated our response to the virus," said Paul Warburton, Global Head of Mobility DX business at Fujitsu. "Both companies felt and embraced a deep responsibility to use our capabilities for good, and there is no area of greater need today than fighting this pandemic."

The DA solution, related consultancy and professional services, together with the advanced research, experienced team and purpose-built laboratory capabilities from Entanglement, make the particular use case for PPE optimization highly transferrable to a number of different applications in a variety of public and private sector endeavors. Agile and adaptive, the quantum-inspired model is designed to tackle a variety of linear parallel processes including predictive modeling for financial markets and portfolio optimization; supply chain logistics; transport and mobility; drug discovery; diagnosing, preventing and treating disease; predicting and preventing cyber threats; and modeling simulations, to name a few. The DA also adapts to fast-moving environments and integrates with existing systems, making it non-disruptive to ongoing and transforming operations.

Online Resources- More on the Fujitsu Digital Annealer: https://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/business-services/digital-annealer/- Read the Fujitsu blog: http://blog.ts.fujitsu.com- Follow Fujitsu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FujitsuAmerica- Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsu-america- Find Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Fujitsu- Fujitsu pictures and media server: http://mediaportal.ts.fujitsu.com/pages/portal.php- For regular news updates, bookmark the Fujitsu newsroom: http://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/resources/news/

About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu AmericasFujitsu America, Inc. is the parent and/or management company of a group of Fujitsu-owned companies operating in North, Central and South America and Caribbean, dedicated to delivering a comprehensive range of digital transformation solutions and services to clients in the Western Hemisphere. These companies are collectively referred to as Fujitsu Americas. Fujitsu enables clients to meet their business objectives through integrated offerings and solutions, including consulting and professional services, systems integration, managed services, outsourcing and cloud services for infrastructure, platforms and applications; AI and data analytics; and quantum-inspired computing solutions. For more information, please visit: http://fujitsu.com/us and http://twitter.com/fujitsuamerica.

About Entanglement, Inc.Entanglement is an early-stage deep technology company dedicated, inter alia, to providing unprecedented commercial access to diverse and advanced computing systems (including quantum computing, high-performance / super- computing and purpose-built computing systems) to a broad range of customers. Focused to accelerate the development of quantum information science (QIS) and artificial intelligence (AI) without enormous up-front capital investment, Entanglement has designed an environment for rapid experimentation and breakthroughs. Through the democratization of these integrated computing capabilities and the experience of its team, the company lowers the barriers to entry for solving seemingly unsolvable real-world problems today. It provides a bridge from classical to quantum computation. Entanglement, together with its partners and customers, push "Beyond Binary." For more information, please visit: https://www.entanglement.ai

All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.

SOURCE Fujitsu America, Inc.

http://www.fujitsu.com

Original post:
Fujitsu and Entanglement Solve Problems Related to COVID-19 and Other Previously Unsolvable Problems through Quantum-Inspired Technology - PRNewswire

Security experts have long worried that advances in quantum computing could eventually make it easier to break encryption that protects the privacy of peoples data. Thats because these sophisticated machines can perform calculations at speeds impossible for conventional computers, potentially enabling them to crack codes previously thought indecipherable.

Now, a Swiss technology company says it has made a breakthrough by using quantum computers to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used encryption. The company believes its found a security weakness that could jeopardize the confidentiality of the worlds internet data, banking transactions and emails.

Terra Quantum AG said its discovery upends the current understanding of what constitutes unbreakable encryption and could have major implications for the worlds leading technology companies, such as Alphabet Inc.s Google, Microsoft Corp., and International Business Machines Corp.

Don't miss: ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota warn EU of risks of weakening encryption

But some other security experts said they arent nearly ready to declare a major breakthrough, at least not until the company publishes the full details of its research. If true, this would be a huge result, said Brent Waters, a computer science professor who specialises in cryptography at the University of Texas at Austin. It seems somewhat unlikely on the face of it. However, it is pretty hard for experts to weigh in on something without it being published.

IBM spokesman Christopher Sciacca said his company has known the risks for 20 years and is working on its own solutions to address the issue of post-quantum security. This is why the National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) has been hosting a challenge to develop a new quantum safe crypto standard, he said in an email. IBM has several proposals for this new standard in the final round, which is expected in a few years.

Brian LaMacchia, distinguished engineer at Microsoft, said company cryptographers are collaborating with the global cryptographic community to prepare customers and data centers for a quantum future. Preparing for security in a post-quantum world is important not only to protect and secure data in the future but also to ensure that future quantum computers are not a threat to the long-term security of todays information.

Google didnt reply to a message seeking comment.

Terra Quantum AG has a team of about 80 quantum physicists, cryptographers and mathematicians, who are based in Switzerland, Russia, Finland and the US What currently is viewed as being post-quantum secure is not post-quantum secure, said Markus Pflitsch, chief executive officer and founder of Terra Quantum, in an interview. We can show and have proven that it isnt secure and is hackable.

Also read: Heres how an encrypted, locked Android and Apple phone gets bypassed

Pflitsch founded the company in 2019. Hes a former finance executive who began his career as a research scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Terra Quantums research is led by two chief technology officers Gordey Lesovik, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Information Technology at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and Valerii Vinokur, a Chicago-based physicist who in 2020 won the Fritz London Memorial Prize for his work in condensed matter and theoretical physics.

The company said that its research found vulnerabilities that affect symmetric encryption ciphers, including the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, which is widely used to secure data transmitted over the internet and to encrypt files. Using a method known as quantum annealing, the company said its research found that even the strongest versions of AES encryption may be decipherable by quantum computers that could be available in a few years from now.

Vinokur said in an interview that Terra Quantums team made the discovery after figuring out how to invert whats called a hash function, a mathematical algorithm that converts a message or portion of data into a numerical value. The research will show that what was once believed unbreakable doesnt exist anymore, Vinokur said, adding that the finding means a thousand other ways can be found soon.

Read more: Chinese scientists make world's first light-based quantum computer: Report

The company, which is backed by the Zurich-based venture capital firm Lakestar LP, has developed a new encryption protocol that it says cant be broken by quantum computers. Vinokur said the new protocol utilizes a method known as quantum key distribution.

Terra Quantum is currently pursuing a patent for the new protocol. But the company will make it available for free, according to Pflitsch. We will open up access to our protocol to make sure we have a safe and secure environment, said Pflitsch. We feel obliged to share it with the world and the quantum community.

The US government, like China, has made research in quantum computing research an economic and national security priority, saying that the world is on the cusp of what it calls a new quantum revolution. In addition, technology companies including Google, Microsoft, and IBM have made large investments in quantum computing in recent years.

Read the original here:
A Swiss company claims it used quantum computers to find weakness in encryption - HT Tech

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Scientists and engineers at the University of Sydney and Microsoft Corporation have developed a device that can handle thousands of qubits. To put things in perspective, the current state-of-the-art quantum computer can control only 50 qubits at a time.

Scaled-up quantum computers require control interfaces to manipulate or readout a large number of qubits, which usually operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (1 Kelvin or -273 degrees celsius).

The complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology has its limitations due to high thermodynamic dissipation, leading to heating of the fragile quantum bits. Overheating of quantum bits compromises its quantumness, the property of being in two states at the same time (also called superposition).

The current architecture uses multiple connections as every qubit is controlled by external circuitry with a separate electrical connection, generating a lot of heat.

The scientists from the University of Sydney built a CMOS interface between the qubits and the external circuitry, in such a way that the CMOS chip can generate control pulses for multiple qubits, with just four low-bandwidth wires, at 0.1 Kelvin, a temperature 30 times colder than deep space, with ultralow power dissipation.

The interface consists of four low-bandwidth wires at room temperature to provide input signals to the chip, which then configures 32 analogue circuit blocks to control the qubits that use dynamic voltage signals.

Analogue circuit boards use the low leakage of the transistors to generate dynamic voltage signals for manipulating qubits, consuming significantly less power.

Quantum computers are at a similar stage that classical computers were in their 40s when machines needed control rooms to function.

However, this chip, according to the scientists, is the most advanced integrated circuit ever built to operate at deep cryogenic temperatures.

The quantum computers that we have now are still lab prototypes and are not commercially relevant yet. Hence, this is definitely a big step towards building practical and commercially relevant quantum computers, said Mr Viraj Kulkarni, But I think that we are still far away from it.

This is because of the Error Correction. Any computing device always has errors in it and no electronic device can be completely perfect. There are various techniques that computers use to correct those errors.

Now the problem with quantum computing is that qubits are very fragile. Even a slight increase in temperature, vibrations, or even cosmic rays can make qubits lose their quantumness, and this introduces errors. So the key question of whether we can really control these errors is still relevant.

Nivedita Dey, research coordinator at Quantum Research and Development Labs, said the qubit noise is still a roadblock in developing quantum computers.

One of the biggest challenges in implementing a quantum circuit in this Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) era is qubit noise, which causes hindrance in commercial availability of fault-tolerant full-scale quantum computers, said Ms Dey.

This approach can be well suited for practical quantum applications and might reduce the number of error-correcting qubits to be associated with noisy qubits, she added.

If quantum computing does prove to be commercially viable, it will open up completely new avenues.

A plane is not just faster than a car, it can also fly, said Mr Kulkarni, drawing an analogy between quantum computers and conventional computers. The idea is that quantum computers are not just faster, but at the same time will provide us with solutions that are better, especially in AI.

Hence, many applications in AI including complex mathematical equations, drug discovery by enabling chemical simulations, or building financial applications to come up with a better strategy will be solved in a faster and efficient way.

In the end its a tool, so any function a conventional computer can achieve, quantum computers will be able to do it faster and better.

See the rest here:
Microsoft Scientists Build Chip That Can Handle Thousands Of Qubits - Analytics India Magazine