Microsoft, Quantinuum Claim Breakthrough in Quantum Computing

Microsoft and Quantinuum announced on Wednesday a significant milestone in advancing quantum computing towards commercial viability by enhancing their reliability. 

This development reflects the intensifying competition among tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and IBM, as well as various nation states, to harness quantum mechanics for computing speeds surpassing those of traditional silicon-based systems. 

Quantum computers have the potential to perform scientific calculations that would otherwise require millions of years with classical computers.

However, the fundamental unit of quantum computing, known as a “qubit,” is inherently sensitive to disturbances, often leading to data errors. 

To address this challenge, quantum researchers typically overbuild physical qubits and employ error-correction techniques to yield a smaller number of dependable qubits.

Microsoft and Quantinuum have made a significant breakthrough in this area. Microsoft implemented a proprietary error-correction algorithm on Quantinuum’s physical qubits, resulting in approximately four reliable qubits out of 30 physical ones.

Jason Zander, Microsoft’s executive vice president for strategic missions and technologies, expressed confidence in this achievement, stating it represents the highest ratio of reliable qubits demonstrated on a quantum chip. 

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Zander highlighted that they conducted over 14,000 experiments without encountering a single error, a performance up to 800 times better than previous records.

Microsoft plans to integrate this technology into its cloud computing services in the near future. 

Additionally, the company disclosed on Tuesday that its foundry business, responsible for manufacturing chips, faced a deficit of $7 billion in 2023, a significant increase from the previous year.

Quantum researchers, both at Quantinuum and its competitors, typically target around 100 reliable qubits as the threshold to outperform conventional supercomputers. 

However, neither Microsoft nor Quantinuum provided a timeline for achieving this goal with the new technique. 

Ilyas Khan, the chief product officer of Quantinuum, suggested that the advancement could accelerate the timeline by at least two years or more.