Quantum computers could revolutionize the way we tackle problems that stump even the best classical computers.
Single atom transistor recently introduced has been seen as a tool that could lead the way to building a quantum computer. For general introduction how quantum computer work, read A tale of two qubits: how quantum computers work article.
D-Wave Announces Commercially Available Quantum Computer article tells that computing company D-Wave has announced that they’re selling a quantum computing system commercially, which they’re calling the D-Wave One. D-Wave system comes equipped with a 128-qubit processor that’s designed to perform discrete optimization operations. The processor uses quantum annealing to perform these operations.
D-Wave is advertisting a number of different applications for its quantum computing system, primarily in the field of artificial intelligence. According to the company, its system can handle virtually any AI application that can be translated to a Markov random field.
Learning to program the D-Wave One blog article tells that the processor in the D-Wave One – codenamed Rainier – is designed to perform a single mathematical operation called discrete optimization. It is a special purpose processor. When writing applications the D-Wave One is used only for the steps in your task that involve solving optimization problems. All the other parts of your code still run on your conventional systems of choice. Rainier solves optimization problems using quantum annealing (QA), which is a class of problem solving approaches that use quantum effects to help get better solutions, faster. Learning to program the D-Wave One is the first in a series of blog posts describing the algorithms we have run on D-Wave quantum computers, and how to use these to build interesting applications.
But is this the start of the quantum computers era? Maybe not. D-Wave Announces Commercially Available Quantum Computer article comments tell a story that this computer might not be the quantum computer you might be waiting for. It seem that the name “quantum computer” is a bit misleading for this product. There are serious controversies around the working and “quantumness” of the machine. D-Wave has been heavily criticized by some scientists in the quantum computing field. First sale for quantum computing article tells that uncertainty persists around how the impressive black monolith known as D-Wave One actually works. Computer scientists have long questioned whether D-Wave’s systems truly exploit quantum physics on their products.
Slashdot article D-Wave Announces Commercially Available Quantum Computer comments tell that this has the same central problem as before. D-Wave’s computers haven’t demonstrated that their commercial bits are entangled. There’s no way to really distinguish what they are doing from essentially classical simulated annealing. Recommended reading that is skeptical of D-Wave’s claims is much of what Scott Aaronson has wrote about them. See for example http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=639, http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=198 although interestingly after he visited D-Wave’s labs in person his views changed slightly and became slightly more sympathetic to them http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=954.
So it is hard to say if the “128 qubits” part is snake oil or for real. If the 128 “qubits” aren’t entangled at all, which means it is useless for any of the quantum algorithms that one generally thinks of. It seem that this device simply has 128 separate “qubits” that are queried individually, and is, essentially an augmented classical computer that gains a few minor advantages in some very specific algorithms (i.e. the quantum annealing algorithm) due to this qubit querying, but is otherwise indistinguishable from a really expensive classical computer for any other purpose. This has the same central problem as before: D-Wave’s computers haven’t demonstrated that their commercial bits are entangled.
Rather than constantly adding more qubits and issuing more hard-to-evaluate announcements, while leaving the scientific characterization of its devices in a state of limbo, why doesn’t D-Wave just focus all its efforts on demonstrating entanglement, or otherwise getting stronger evidence for a quantum role in the apparent speedup? There’s a reason why academic quantum computing groups focus on pushing down decoherence and demonstrating entanglement in 2, 3, or 4 qubits: because that way, at least you know that the qubits are qubits! Suppose D-Wave were marketing a classical, special-purpose, $10-million computer designed to perform simulated annealing, for 90-bit Ising spin glass problems with a certain fixed topology, somewhat better than an off-the-shelf computing cluster. Would there be even 5% of the public interest that there is now?
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Microsoft says it has harnessed a new state of matter using particles called Majorana fermions, a significant breakthrough to create workable topological qubits — US tech giant says it has harnessed a new state of matter to create the basic building blocks of a quantum machine
https://www.ft.com/content/a60f44f5-81ca-4e66-8193-64c956b09820
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Q&A with Satya Nadella on Microsoft’s AGI plan, the quantum breakthrough with Majorana 1, how Muse will change gaming, AI’s legal barriers, AI safety, and more — AGI is not the real benchmark: 10% economic growth is — Satya Nadella on: — Why he doesn’t believe in AGI but does believe in 10% economic growth,
https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/satya-nadella
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/02/20/microsoft-again-claims-topological-quantum-computing-with-majorana-zero-mode-anyons/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft has a new quantum computer – but does it actually work?
Researchers at Microsoft say they have created so-called topological qubits, which would be exceptionally resistant to errors, but their claim has been met with scepticism
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2469079-microsoft-has-a-new-quantum-computer-but-does-it-actually-work/#Echobox=1740073682
Microsoft researchers say they have created “topological qubits”, long sought-after components for a radically different kind of quantum computer. This isn’t the first time the firm has made this claim – it attempted to produce these error-proof quantum bits in a similar experiment in 2023, but the results weren’t fully conclusive, raising doubts among colleagues in the field about whether it has fully worked this time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why quantum computers are being held back by geopolitical tussles
Fears that other nations could gain an advantage are holding back the development of quantum computers, with export controls and other restrictions making it harder for researchers to work across borders
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2466718-why-quantum-computers-are-being-held-back-by-geopolitical-tussles/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Light from artificial atoms: Advancing quantum systems with superconducting circuits
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-artificial-atoms-advancing-quantum-superconducting.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
New chip reveals Microsoft’s quantum computing playbook
https://www.edn.com/new-chip-reveals-microsofts-quantum-computing-playbook/#google_vignette
We took a step back and said, ‘OK, let’s invent the transistor for the quantum age, said Chetan Nayak, corporate VP of Quantum Hardware at Microsoft. He was talking about the company’s Majorana 1 chip, which marks a notable development in quantum computing. EDN’s sister publication EE Times takes a closer look at this chip’s topological qubit architecture while providing a technical glimpse of competing products: Google’s Willow processor and the University of Science and Technology of China’s Zuchongzhi 3.0 chip.
New Quantum Computing Breakthrough by Microsoft
Microsoft Enters the Quantum Race with Majorana 1 using Topological Qubits
https://www.eetimes.com/new-quantum-computing-breakthrough-by-microsoft/
Microsoft has unveiled its Majorana 1 chip, marking a notable development in quantum computing. This chip uses a topological qubit architecture, distinguishing it from other approaches in the field and opening new avenues for scalability and stability.
The development arrives amidst ongoing advancements from other major players, such as Google’s Willow and China’s Zuchongzhi 3.0, setting the stage for a competitive phase in quantum computing development.
The core innovation behind Majorana 1 lies in its use of topological qubits, which are designed to be more resilient to environmental disturbances than conventional qubits. This resilience comes from Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs), exotic quasiparticles at the ends of topological superconducting nanowires.
Microsoft’s topological qubit architecture uses aluminum nanowires joined together to form an H. Each H has four controllable Majoranas and makes one qubit. These Hs can also be connected and laid out across the chip like many tiles.
“It’s complex in that we had to show a new state of matter to get there, but after that, it’s fairly simple. It tiles out. You have this much simpler architecture that promises a much faster path to scale,” said Krysta Svore, Microsoft technical fellow.
Creating and measuring Majorana particles
Creating these topological qubits involves a complex process of materials engineering, as outlined in a Nature paper published this week, “Interferometric single-shot parity measurement in InAs–Al hybrid devices.” The Microsoft team developed a novel materials stack consisting of indium arsenide and aluminum to coax Majorana particles into existence.
The system uses digital switches to couple both nanowire ends to a quantum dot, a tiny semiconductor device capable of storing electrical charge. This connection increases the dot’s ability to hold charge, but the exact increase depends on the nanowire’s parity.
The quantum state of the nanowire can be determined by measuring the change in the dot’s charge capacity using microwaves. The dot’s ability to hold charge determines how the microwaves reflect off the quantum dot, returning with an imprint of the nanowire’s quantum state.
The device achieves an assignment error probability of 1% for optimal measurement time. The large capacitance shift and long poisoning time enable this parity measurement.
Comparison with Google’s Willow and Zuchongzhi 3.0
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 enters a competitive landscape, including Google’s Willow processor and the University of Science and Technology of China (UTSC) Zuchongzhi 3.0. Both Willow and Zuchongzhi 3.0 have achieved significant milestones in quantum computing.
Google’s Willow boasts 105 qubits and demonstrates breakthroughs in quantum error correction. Willow can perform computations, such as random circuit sampling, in minutes that would take supercomputers billions of years.
UTSC’s Zuchongzhi 3.0 also features 105 qubits and has demonstrated quantum computational advantage through random circuit sampling experiments. Using an 83-qubit, 32-cycle random circuit, Zuchongzhi 3.0 also conducted a random circuit sampling experiment, producing one million samples in seconds.
Contrasting approaches
While Google and UTSC have focused on scaling the number of qubits and demonstrating quantum computational advantage, Microsoft emphasizes the stability and scalability offered by its topological qubit design. The Majorana 1 chip is designed to scale to a million qubits on a single chip.
“Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits,” Nayak noted. “If it doesn’t, you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us.”
The development of Majorana 1 represents a significant step forward for Microsoft in the quantum computing race.
“Eighteen months ago, we laid out our roadmap to a quantum supercomputer,” said Nayak. ”Today we hit our second milestone, demonstrating the world’s first topological qubit. And we’ve already placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to house one million.”
Error correction remains a critical area of research in quantum computing. While Microsoft’s topological qubits offer inherent error resistance, further advancements in error correction techniques will be necessary to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computation.
The Majorana 1 can perform error correction through measurements activated by digital pulses that connect and disconnect quantum dots from nanowires. This digital control makes managing the large numbers of qubits needed for real-world applications practical.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nobel Laureate: Quantum Computing Won’t Overtake Classical Machines Anytime Soon
https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/19/nobel-laureate-quantum-computing-wont-overtake-classical-machines-anytime-soon/
Insider Brief
Quantum computing remains a research endeavor, and classical computers will continue to outperform them for the foreseeable future, according to Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek.
Google’s Willow chip demonstrates quantum advantage in select mathematical problems and achieves limited error correction improvements but does not signal a practical breakthrough.
Despite long-term potential, quantum computers face significant challenges in reliability, scalability, and usefulness, making them unlikely to replace classical systems soon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“If you are tempted to call it a quantum leap, keep in mind that real quantum leaps are usually quite small,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s new chip looks like science fiction…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwnez8HdN7E
Microsoft just announced a new quantum computing chip called Majorana 1. It is the first chip capable of topological quantum computing
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17185-microsoft-uskoo-ratkaisseensa-kvanttiprosessorien-suurimman-ongelman
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17197-ruotsalaiset-kehittivaet-tekniikan-joka-voi-haastaa-kvanttitietokoneet
Göteborgin yliopiston tutkijat ovat tehneet merkittävän läpimurron laskentateknologiassa. He ovat kehittäneet uudenlaisen tietokonetyypin, joka voi tarjota energiatehokkaan vaihtoehdon kvanttitietokoneille ja toimii huoneenlämmössä.
Kvanttitietokoneet lupaavat valtavaa laskentatehoa, mutta ne vaativat äärimmäisen alhaisia lämpötiloja, mikä tekee niiden käyttöönotosta kallista ja teknisesti haastavaa. Göteborgin tutkijoiden kehittämä teknologia puolestaan ei vaadi jäähdytystä ja voi toimia huoneenlämmössä.
Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään spintroniikkaa, jossa magnetismin avulla voidaan käsitellä tietoa erittäin tehokkaasti. Tutkijat ovat onnistuneet ohjaamaan ja synkronoimaan spin-aaltoja, mikä mahdollistaa laskentatehtävien suorittamisen uudella tavalla. Tämä voi johtaa seuraavan sukupolven Ising-koneisiin, jotka ratkaisevat monimutkaisia optimointiongelmia huomattavasti nykyisiä tietokoneita nopeammin ja energiatehokkaammin.
Seuraavaksi tutkijat rakentavat laajempia oskillaattoriverkkoja, joissa on satojatuhansia komponentteja, jotta uuden teknologian laskentakapasiteettia voidaan testata suuremmassa mittakaavassa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/02/27/amazonilta-oma-kvanttikonepiiri-viela-protoversio/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17204-aws-mukaan-kvanttikonekisaan
Amazon Web Services eli AWS on julkistanut ensimmäisen oman kvanttilaskentapiirinsä. AWS:n Kalifornian teknillisessä instituutissa (Caltech) kehitetty Ocelot-siru on merkittävä askel kohti skaalautuvia ja vikasietoisia kvanttitietokoneita. Ocelot on suunniteltu erityisesti kvanttivirheenkorjauksen tehostamiseen, minkä ansiosta kvanttilaskennan kustannuksia voidaan pienentää jopa 90 % perinteisiin menetelmiin verrattuna.
Ocelot perustuu cat qubit -teknologiaan, joka tukahduttaa luonnostaan tiettyjä virheitä ja siten yksinkertaistaa virheenkorjausta. AWS on onnistunut integroimaan tämän teknologian piisiruun, jota voidaan valmistaa nykyisillä elektroniikkateollisuuden prosesseilla. Tämä tekee kvanttitietokoneista aiempaa käytännöllisempiä ja helpommin skaalautuvia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The QLDPC code breakthrough in quantum error correction
https://www.edn.com/the-qldpc-code-breakthrough-in-quantum-error-correction/#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-interfaces-gateway-dimensional-quantum-optics.html#
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon unveils its first quantum computing chip
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-02-amazon-unveils-quantum-chip.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum Advantage Claim — Quantum Entanglement Gives Players a Significant Edge in Strategic Game
https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/02/23/quantum-advantage-claim-quantum-entanglement-gives-players-a-significant-edge-in-strategic-game/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IonQ Achieves Breakthrough in Making Compact Quantum Systems
https://www.tipranks.com/news/ionq-achieves-breakthrough-in-making-compact-quantum-systems
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s new chip gives ‘hope’ quantum computing companie ..
Read more at:
http://m.timesofindia.com/articleshow/118430378.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2025/03/04/euroopan-suurin-suprajohtava-kvanttikone-valmistui/
Suomessa on rakennettu VTT:n ja IQM:n toimesta Euroopan suurin 50 kubitin suprajohtava kvanttitietokone. Uusi suprajohtava kvanttitietokone on sijoitettu Mikronovan tiloihin Espoon Otaniemessä. Tätä aiemmin tehtiin jo 5- ja 20 kubitin testikoneet. Samalla on synnytetty Suomeen aktiivinen kvanttialueen osaamisyhteisö.
”50 kubitin kvanttitietokoneen kehittäminen ja rakentaminen osoittaa, että Suomi on yksi alan globaaleista edelläkävijöistä. Tällä kvanttitietokoneella päästään kehittämään uusia algoritmeja ja sovelluksia materiaalimallinnukseen, simulointiin, optimointiongelmiin ja tekoälyyn”, toteaa VTT:n liiketoiminta-alueen johtaja Erja Turunen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:
D-Wave claims it has achieved “quantum supremacy” with its quantum annealing processors; some physicists say classical computers can achieve comparable results — The company said classical computers can’t beat its quantum computer in magnetic materials simulation. Some physicists disagree.
D-Wave Claims ‘Quantum Supremacy,’ Beating Traditional Computers
The company said classical computers can’t beat its quantum computer in magnetic materials simulation. Some physicists disagree.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/d-wave-claims-quantum-supremacy-beating-traditional-computers-155ca634?st=6qzyjk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
D-Wave is the latest quantum computing company to say it has achieved “quantum supremacy,” better known as the ability to solve a problem with a quantum computer that can’t be done with a traditional computer.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company published a paper in the scientific journal Science on Wednesday, which outlines how it accomplished a materials simulation that it says is beyond the reach of today’s traditional, or classical computers, which store and process information using binary digits, or bits.
“This, in some sense, is the holy grail for quantum computing,” said Alan Baratz, chief executive of D-Wave.
The news marks the most recent salvo in the war among both tech giants and startups to establish quantum supremacy—and therefore the value of quantum computers—that has been going since at least 2019, when Google said it had achieved the milestone.
More recently, Google and Amazon each announced their own quantum chips while Microsoft in February said it created a new state of matter to help make quantum computers more powerful.
Quantum computers are built with quantum bits, or qubits. Those, unlike binary digits, can exist in two states at once—both zeros and ones. That quality allows quantum computers to crunch numbers in a fundamentally different way from traditional computers, and take on increasingly complex computing tasks in areas including drug discovery and cybersecurity.
Beyond-classical computation in quantum simulation
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado6285
Abstract
Quantum computers hold the promise of solving certain problems that lie beyond the reach of conventional computers. Establishing this capability, especially for impactful and meaningful problems, remains a central challenge. Here we show that superconducting quantum annealing processors can rapidly generate samples in close agreement with solutions of the Schrödinger equation. We demonstrate area-law scaling of entanglement in the model quench dynamics of two-, three- and infinite-dimensional spin glasses, supporting the observed stretched-exponential scaling of effort for matrix-product-state approaches. We show that several leading approximate methods based on tensor networks and neural networks cannot achieve the same accuracy as the quantum annealer within a reasonable timeframe. Thus quantum annealers can answer questions of practical importance that may remain out of reach for classical computation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/rigetti-stock-earnings-quantum-computing-98cc7242
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-quantum-startup-millions-powered-chips.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Superconducting quantum processor prototype operates 10¹⁵ times faster than fastest supercomputer
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-superconducting-quantum-processor-prototype-faster.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Coming Quantum Boom: A New Industry a Century in the Making Quantum tech isn’t just about going smaller—it’s about doing the impossible
https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-mechanics
Tomi Engdahl says:
D-Wave Deep Dive: A Look at The Quantum Advantage Findings — And The Questions That Remain
https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/03/13/d-wave-deep-dive-a-look-at-the-quantum-advantage-findings-and-the-questions-that-remain/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://thequantuminsider.com/2025/03/14/d-wave-ceo-responds-to-criticisms-about-quantum-supremacy-claim/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Dotan / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Chetan Nayak, who leads Microsoft’s Station Q team trying to build a quantum computer; source: Microsoft spends ~$300M annually on quantum research — Chetan Nayak recently made a breakthrough after devoting his career to a new type of supercomputer
The Man Behind Microsoft’s Decadeslong Quest to Build a Quantum Computer
Chetan Nayak recently made a breakthrough after devoting his career to a new type of supercomputer
https://www.wsj.com/tech/microsoft-quantum-computing-chetan-nayak-84ad1c98?st=LStJkU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
At Nvidia’s Quantum Day, Jensen Huang walked back his January comments that cast doubt on the timeline for useful quantum computing and caused a stock selloff — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday walked back comments he made in January, when he cast doubt on whether useful quantum computers would hit the market in the next 15 years.
Nvidia CEO Huang says he was wrong about timeline for quantum, surprised his comments hurt stocks
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/20/nvidia-ceo-huang-says-was-wrong-about-timeline-for-quantum-computing.html
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday walked back comments he made in January, when he cast doubt on whether useful quantum computers would hit the market in the next 15 years.
He made the comments at Nvidia’s “Quantum Day” event.
“This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong,” Huang said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Stockholm-based Rerun, which is building a data stack for “Physical AI” like robots and drones, raised a $17M seed, bringing its total funding to $20.2M
Rerun’s open source AI platform for robots, drones, and cars revs up with $17M seed
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/20/reruns-open-source-ai-platform-for-robots-drones-and-cars-revs-up-with-17m-seed/
As generative AI moves increasingly into the physical world through robotics, vehicles, and drones, the need to map cloud-based AIs to real-world environments can lead to a huge mismatch. Rerun, a Stockholm-based dev tools startup, which builds a data stack for this emergent kind of “physical AI,” has secured $17 million in seed funding to help AI developers smooth out the bumps from code to road, as it were.
The seed round was led by Point Nine out of Germany, bringing the 2022-founded startup’s total funding to date to $20.2 million.
Nikolaus West, co-founder and CEO of Rerun, told TechCrunch that AI that operates in the physical world is already booming. Per West, Rerun’s database and cloud data platform is built from the ground up for physical AI data and workflows, managing multimodal data such as video streams, 3D scenes, and tensors.
The startup’s multimodal data stack supports visual debugging, helping developers to track back through their bots’ movements to better understand where things might be going wrong — importing data from real-world sensors to power spatial visualization and analytics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum computer outperforms world’s fastest supercomputers in generating certified random numbers for the first time, enabling new cryptographic applications. https://link.ie.social/4KBP7X
Tomi Engdahl says:
Photon-shuttling interconnection device enables direct communication among multiple quantum processors
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-photon-shuttling-interconnection-device-enables.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
Newly developed waveguide device protects photonic quantum computers from errors
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-newly-waveguide-device-photonic-quantum.html#google_vignette
Tomi Engdahl says:
Quantum computing milestone: 56-qubit computer provides truly random number generation
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-quantum-milestone-qubit-random-generation.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
NVIDIA to Build Accelerated Quantum Computing Research Center
New Center in Boston to Advance the Development of Quantum Computing Architectures and Algorithms in Collaboration With Leading Hardware and Software Makers
https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-to-build-accelerated-quantum-computing-research-center