A chip off the quantum block

In the past two years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen breakthroughs turning esoteric research into practical applications.

- DEVANGSHU DATTA

Quantum computing (QC) remains an esoteric field but a new breakthrough from Microsoft may change that.

QC exploits quantum properties to develop exponentially faster computational capacity. Computing converts everything into binary numbers -current on is "one" and current off, "zero". A conventional bit can store (and process) either zero or one.

A quantum bit or qubit can store both values at the same time. When you put an array of qubits together, it can process data exponentially faster than much larger conventional arrays.

However, qubit-based computers have very high error rates. Errors can be set off by heat, or minor vibrations, like those caused by a passing truck.

QC generally is done with very small arrays of qubits stored in very cold, physically stable environments. Assembling big arrays of qubits requires huge amounts of physical space in highly controlled environments.

Now Microsoft (MS) claims it has broken through several of the barriers imposed by physics. The new Majorana 1 chip from MS promises to scale up to clusters of millions of qubits with far more effective error correction. Moreover, Majorana quantum chips could be used in normal data centres, reducing costs dramatically while making QC possible at scale.