Microsoft Azure recently announced that its quantum computing research teams had invented “a new kind of qubit” based on elusive, never-before-demonstrated properties of physics. According to the Redmond company, this will allow it to build scalable quantum computers capable of solving the hardest problems facing humanity.
So, is this a breakthrough for the field or just an attempt to lean in to the marketing zeitgeist surrounding quantum computing?
To sort out the answer, we’ll need to take a look at Microsoft’s quantum computing department, its history, and what it’s actually trying to accomplish.
A full stack solution
Microsoft’s probably not the first name that comes to mind when you think about the quantum computing industry. Google had its monumental time crystals breakthrough last year, IBM was the first big tech entity to develop consumer-facing quantum computing systems and it’s currently engaged in a tit-for-tat with Google, and D-Wave, a quantum company that recently went public, has been building quantum computers for over 20 years.
In order to carve its own lane, Microsoft’s chosen to pursue a different path than all of its competitors. The “new kind of qubit” the Azure team says its developed is called a topological qubit and, as far as we know, its never been demonstrated before.
According to a company blog post:
Microsoft’s approach has been to pursue a topological qubit that has built-in protection from environmental noise, which means it should take far fewer qubits to perform useful computation and correct errors. Topological qubits should also be able to process information quickly, and one can fit more than a million on a wafer that’s smaller than the security chip on a credit card.
The team responsible for the breakthrough says topological qubits represent the fastest path to industrial-sized quantum computers.
What this tells us, is that Microsoft’s clearly eyeing the quantum computing market and envisioning itself as the global leader.
While Microsoft certainly isn’t a newcomer to the quantum computing industry, it currently only offers limited quantum services to select Azure partners. Prior to the topological qubit breakthrough, its quantum ambitions were a bit fuzzy in the crystal ball.
But, now, it’s clear that Microsoft intends to develop a full stack quantum computing solution featuring a gate-based system harnessing one million qubits.