Amazon joins quantum race with ‘cat qubit’ powered chip

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, 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. Quantum computers solve problems by exploiting the strange properties of matter and energy at very small scales, as described by the science of quantum physics. Quantum computers won’t replace so-called “classical” computers, but promise to be able to solve problems even the most powerful modern computers cannot – yielding new discoveries such as better batteries and new medicines. But that potential is being held up by the problem of errors. Quantum computers are extremely sensitive to noise in their environment – vibrations, heat, electromagnetic interference from mobile phones and WIFI networks, or even cosmic rays and radiation from outer space can all cause them to make errors, which then need to be corrected. The new chip has five cat qubits, named after the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. Cat qubits are one attempt at solving this problem by engineering.