Microsoft has announced its roadmap for developing a quantum supercomputer using its topological qubits, which the company’s researchers have been working on for several years. With the aim of achieving reliable one million quantum operations per second, Microsoft believes it will take fewer than 10 years to build this groundbreaking quantum machine.
Milestone Achieved: Majorana-based Qubits
Last year, Microsoft made a significant breakthrough by demonstrating its ability to create Majorana-based qubits. These qubits offer exceptional stability, making them highly desirable for quantum computing. However, their creation is an immensely challenging task.
Microsoft’s commitment to this technology has paid off, as the company has now published a peer-reviewed paper confirming its successful achievement of this critical milestone. To reach the next level, the industry needs to transition to resilient quantum computing, characterized by the use of error-correcting codes and logical qubits.
Foundational Implementation: Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) Machines
Microsoft’s current focus lies in the development of noisy intermediate-scale quantum machines, which operate with physical qubits. While these machines are not yet reliable enough for practical applications in science or the commercial industry, they serve as a crucial foundation for future advancements.
Hardware-Protected Qubits: Advancements in Qubit Development
The next step in Microsoft’s roadmap involves building hardware-protected qubits, which are expected to be small (less than 10 microns on a side) and capable of performing rapid operations. These qubits will be crucial for achieving the desired one million reliable quantum operations per second with a low failure rate. The team is making significant progress in this area, paving the way for further advancements.
Entangling Qubits through Braiding
After successfully developing hardware-protected qubits, Microsoft plans to focus on entangling them using a technique called braiding. This process, which has been discussed since the early 2000s, holds immense potential for quantum computing. By entangling qubits, researchers can leverage their collective power to perform complex computations and simulations.
Towards a Full Quantum System
The final stage of Microsoft’s roadmap involves building a smaller multiqubit system and demonstrating a fully functional quantum computer. This ambitious endeavor will require precise execution and continuous advancements. While the timeline for achieving these milestones remains uncertain, Microsoft is determined to contribute to the evolution of quantum computing.
Azure Quantum Elements and Copilot for Azure Quantum
Alongside its roadmap announcement, Microsoft introduced Azure Quantum Elements, a platform that combines high-performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum capabilities to accelerate scientific discovery.
Additionally, Microsoft unveiled Copilot for Azure Quantum, an AI model designed to assist scientists and students in generating quantum-related calculations and simulations. These initiatives demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to fostering quantum research and development.
Microsoft’s roadmap for building a quantum supercomputer within 10 years showcases the company’s dedication to advancing the field of quantum computing. With the successful creation of Majorana-based qubits and ongoing progress in qubit development, Microsoft is poised to contribute significantly to the quantum computing race.
As industry competitors pursue their own quantum computing methods, the race for quantum supremacy continues, promising exciting breakthroughs in the near future.
