Intel takes a quantum leap

MUMBAI, INDIA: In what can be termed as a move that will position one of the world’s largest processor manufacturers in the niche league, Intel has announced investments to the tune of $50 million in quantum computing.

Intel said that it will also provide engineering resources to the Delft University of Technology and TNO, the Dutch Organisation for Applied Research, to advance quantum computing.

The chip giant said it can contribute manufacturing and architecture knowhow to quantum computing research.

Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel, wrote in a blog post, “Quantum computing is promising, but there are significant challenges to overcome. It is a subatomic scenario that requires suspending conventional wisdom around basic physics, where an electron can actually be two places at once, spinning clockwise and counter-clockwise at the same time.”

Infact, Intel is not only IT vendor betting on the technology. IBM has been among the largest tech players in the quantum computer space. Big Blue is investing billions of dollars in research on developing processors that could power quantum computers. Google too is closely working with NASA on the same.

As per the definition in Tech Target, Quantum computing is the area of study focused on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the nature and behavior of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level.

Development of a quantum computer would mark a leap forward in computing capability far greater than that from the abacus to a modern day supercomputer, with performance gains in the billion-fold realm and beyond.

The quantum computer, following the laws of quantum physics, would gain enormous processing power through the ability to be in multiple states, and to perform tasks using all possible permutations simultaneously.

In short, Quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits, which can exist in multiple states and operate in parallel. Quantum computers are expected to replace the ones powered by transistors and binary digits today.

But there are challenges to be faced. As the Intel CEO puts it, “This ambiguity is both promising and enormously complex.... and of course, an incredibly exciting challenge to anyone who loves physics, like me. How do we connect thousands of quantum bits, or qubits, together? How can we control them? How can we reliably fabricate, connect and control many more qubits? Even measuring qubit signals is going to require an entirely new class of low temperature electronics that don't exist today.”