Microsoft, Quantinuum claim breakthrough in quantum computing

Microsoft and Quantinuum announced a significant advancement in quantum computing, aiming to enhance reliability, a critical step towards commercial viability. Quantum computing, pursued by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and IBM, promises unprecedented speeds by leveraging quantum mechanics. However, quantum bits (“qubits”) are prone to errors from minimal disturbances. To address this, researchers typically employ error-correction techniques, resulting in a smaller number of reliable qubits. Microsoft and Quantinuum achieved a breakthrough by applying an error-correction algorithm to physical qubits, yielding four reliable qubits from 30 physical ones. Microsoft claims this ratio is the best demonstrated so far, with over 14,000 experiments conducted error-free, significantly outperforming previous records. They plan to integrate this technology into their cloud computing services soon. While the industry generally agrees that around 100 reliable qubits are needed to surpass conventional supercomputers, neither Microsoft nor Quantinuum disclosed a timeline to reach this milestone. However, Quantinuum’s Chief Product Officer, Ilyas Khan, suggested that their progress could accelerate achieving this goal by at least two years.

Source – CGTN