| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Amazon joins quantum race with 'cat-qubit' powered chip |
| 2025-02-28 |
| [BBC] Amazon has become the third tech giant in as many months to announce a breakthrough in quantum computing - a technology that promises vast processing power but is beset by technical difficulties. The firm has unveiled Ocelot a prototype chip built on "cat qubit" technology - an approach that derives its name from the famous "Schrödinger's cat" thought experiment. The chip seeks to address one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the development of quantum computers - making them error free. Amazon says, taken alongside other recent breakthroughs in the industry, its work means useful quantum computers are likely to be with us sooner than previously thought. But how quickly these machines will be powerful enough to be practically useful for a range of commercial applications is a matter of debate among experts. Oskar Painter of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Center for Quantum Computing at the California Institute of Technology, where the work was carried out, told the BBC that recent progress meant an "aggressive date" of a decade was now "looking more and more realistic". "Five years ago I would have said maybe 20 or 30 years", he said but added "this timeline's come in quite a bit." Ultimately AWS, which provides cloud computing services, would like to offer quantum computing services to its customers, but Mr Painter also said he believed the advanced machines could eventually help optimise the vast global logistics of Amazon's retail business. "You know, a company like Amazon, you make a one percent improvement in that and you're talking large dollars right? Quantum computers could enable you to do that more effectively, more real time - and that's the real value there," he explained. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |