Microsoft to build 'quantum supercomputer' within a decade
Says quantum computing must move from 'noisy physical qubits' to 'reliable logical qubits'
After announcing an initial breakthrough towards a quantum supercomputer last month, Microsoft estimates that it will be able to construct its own in less than ten years.
The company categorises today's quantum computers as "foundational level."
It says today's models require enhancements in underlying technology, akin to the evolution of early computing machines as they moved from vacuum tubes to transistors and eventually integrated circuits, before reaching their present state.
Microsoft's roadmap proposes that the quantum computing industry should now move from using "noisy" physical qubits to "reliable" logical qubits.
Depending solely on physical qubits becomes unreliable when running scaled applications, requiring the adoption of more dependable logical qubits.
Microsoft researchers have been working on developing topological qubits, which they intend to employ in the supercomputer, for several years.
Instead of encoding information in the states of individual particles, this approach encodes information in the system's overarching structure.
Theoretically this should enhance the devices' resilience to background noise, minimising errors and increasing overall reliability.
Krysta Svore, Microsoft's VP of Advanced Quantum Development, told Tech Crunch that the company envisions completing the development of a quantum supercomputer using these qubits in less than ten years.
"We think about our roadmap and the time to the quantum supercomputer in terms of years rather than decades," Svore said.
Svore went on to say that the upcoming supercomputer would be able to perform one million quantum operations per second.
CEO Satya Nadella shared that optimism during the Azure Quantum: Accelerating Scientific Discovery virtual event last month. He said: "Our goal is to compress the next 250 years of chemistry and materials science progress into the next 25."
Quantum doesn't start and end with the qubit
Microsoft says it has already achieved its initial milestone of creating quantum systems that operate using noisy physical qubits.
Last year, Microsoft's team announced an ability to create a unique type of quasiparticle known as a Majorana Zero Mode (MZM).
Majorana qubits offer the advantage of exceptional stability, particularly when compared to conventional techniques. However, their creation presents immense challenges due to their highly complex nature.
Having made an early investment in this technology, Microsoft has now substantiated its initial milestone on the path to a quantum supercomputer.
A year after the initial announcement, the team has published a peer-reviewed paper in the American Physical Society's Physical Review B, confirming the successful accomplishment of this important step.
"It has been an arduous development path in the near term because it required that we make a physics breakthrough that has eluded researchers for decades," Chetan Nayak, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Quantum Hardware, wrote.
The next step involves constructing hardware-protected qubits; an area where Svore said the team is making "remarkable" progress.
Microsoft researchers are focused on enhancing the qubits to attain properties such as entanglement, utilising a technique known as braiding.
This characteristic will empower the device to undertake more complex operations.
Following that, Microsoft will proceed with the development of a smaller-scale multi-qubit system and eventually demonstrate a complete quantum system.
In addition to unveiling its roadmap, Microsoft has also introduced the Azure Quantum Elements platform, designed to expedite scientific exploration.
This platform empowers organisations to harness the most recent advancements in high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and quantum computing to drive progress in chemistry and material science, ultimately leading to the development of the next generation of quantum computers.