118 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
broader picture and, in
particular,the supporting
structure that will be
needed once sufficient
qubits become available.
Clark explains:
“The quest forqubits
enables Intel to advance
its research across the
completequantum
computing stack, including
its architecture,algorithms
and control electronics. In fact,
the Intel Labs team leveraged a
simulation of amany-qubit quantum
computer,operating with the full
stack to inform decisions around
the design of this device’s enhanced
control electronics forthe quantum
computing system. This will better
enable us to deliver alarge-scale,
universal quantum computer.”
So while the quest forareal-world
universal quantum computing
evidently faces arange of
challenges, we can’t get
awayfrom the fact that
the qubit count is vital.
Most of the major
players are at asimilar
level of development,
according to Clark.
“This January,Intel
unveiled Tangle Lake,a
49-qubit superconducting
quantum test chip.Tangle Lake
is an important milestone because
it will allow researchers to assess and
improve error correction techniques
and simulatecomputational problems.”
Filipp confirmed the view that
many companies are at around the
50-qubit point by reference to IBM’s
latest and greatest.
“In November 2017,our first IBM Q
systems were made available online to
clients with a20-qubit processor,
featuring improvements in
superconducting qubit design,
connectivity and packaging. The
coherence times lead the field with an
average value of 90 microseconds,
whereas qubit operations can be
performed in about 100 nanoseconds.
This is enough time to entangle the
qubits and maintain their superposition
to carry out first algorithms.
“Wealso successfully built and
measured an operational prototype
50-qubit processor with similar
performance metrics,”hesays.
BITPART
We might now have afeel forthe state
of the art, but we were keen to
understand better what these
companies really mean when they
refertoa50-qubit chip.Afterall, while
ABOVE:Intel now
has a49-qubit chip,
asimilar figure
to several other
researchers
ABOVE:The IBM Qcomputation houses
IBM’s most advanced quantum computers,
accessed via IBM Cloud
Im
ag
e:
IBM
Re
sea
rch
Im
ag
e:I
nte
l
