It's a quantum leap in computing

The world's biggest technology companies are building machines with vast processing power. India too is in the race, report SHINE JACOB & AASHISH ARYAN

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After artificial intelligence and generative AI, the technology world is abuzz with quantum computing. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have made major announcements for the technology in the last few weeks.

Quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits—subatomic particles such as electrons or photons—for processing power. They are vastly more powerful than classical computers that use binary bits of information. The companies may take around five years to put their plans in action and experts say that gives time to speed up India's ambitious National Quantum Mission (NQM).

Google, in December, unveiled a chip which is called Willow and was developed at a quantum laboratory in Santa Barbara, California. Willow is reportedly capable of solving complex mathematical problems in five minutes: A classical computer may take "longer than the history of the universe". Google aims to release commercial quantum computing applications in five years.

In February, Microsoft announced its first quantum processor called Majorana 1. The company says it's a breakthrough as instead of electrons the processor uses something called Majorana particles. Its competitors' processors depend on conventional qubits, which are notoriously fragile and prone to environmental interference. Microsoft's chip employs topological qubits, a process in which quantum information is stored in the topological properties of a physical system rather than in the properties of individual particles or atoms. The process promises to tackle problems too complex for classical computers.

Computing competition