Amazon Web Services launched Ocelot, a first generation quantum computing chip that was developed with the California Institute of Technology.
The news lands as quantum computing developments land almost daily. IonQ is betting on quantum networking. Microsoft launches its new quantum computing processor and approach. Quantinuum blends AI and quantum computing. And meanwhile, the industry awaits a Nvidia GTC quantum computing panel with Jensen Huang.
Recent headlines include:
- IonQ doubles down on quantum networking, names new CEO as it eyes scale
- CxOs need to focus on quantum computing readiness, not the noise
- Here’s what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said about quantum computing, Project Digits and robotics
- Microsoft unveils Majorana 1, aims to scale quantum computing
- Practical quantum computing advances ramp up going into 2025
- Quantum computing all in on hybrid HPC with classical computing
- Quantinuum launches generative AI quantum framework, sees quantum computing as synthetic data generator
AWS said Ocelot can reduce the costs of quantum error correction by up to 90%. According to AWS, "Ocelot represents a breakthrough in the pursuit to build fault-tolerant quantum computers capable of solving problems of commercial and scientific importance that are beyond the reach of today’s conventional computers."
The findings behind Ocelot were published in a peer-reviewed research paper in Nature. Key details include:
- Ocelot is based on superconducting quantum circuits.
- It has a scalable architecture designed to lower error correction overhead.
- Ocelot includes the first implementation of a noise-biased gate, which tunes out errors.
Amazon is catching up with its own quantum computing hardware. Since quantum computing is going to be consumed almost solely in the cloud, hyperscalers are developing their own systems and offering choices and entry points to pure play providers.
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In a statement, AWS said the design of Ocelot includes the 'cat qubit,' which suppresses certain forms of errors to reduce the resources needed for correction. AWS' quantum chip can be manufactured and scaled like a microelectronics processor. This scalable quantum chip format is also the big takeaway from Microsoft's Majorana 1 launch.
Oskar Painter, AWS director of Quantum Hardware, said practical quantum computers are available for real-world applications. "Quantum chips built according to the Ocelot architecture could cost as little as one-fifth of current approaches, due to the drastically reduced number of resources required for error correction," said Painter. "Concretely, we believe this will accelerate our timeline to a practical quantum computer by up to five years.”
Constellation Research's take
Holger Mueller, analyst at Constellation Research, said:
"AWS has entered the quantum space with its error correction capabilities announced back at Reinvent:2023, and is now moving backwards in the value chain and designing its first Quantum chip. No surprise that it has superconducting like all the promising announcements of the last 6 months. What stands out in the AWS design is the division of qubits for separate functions. This separation is also an AWS tradition if one considers the Nitro architecture. It will be interesting to see how the new platform will perform and potentially prove that specialized qubits on one chip are the way forward for quantum computing."
