The American company Intel is introducing a unique quantum processor with 12 qubits to the market. Although this is not a record-breaking number, it is more than sufficient for a commercially available chip of this category. However, as reported by the Ars Technica portal, even though this technology is finally making its way to the market after a long wait, you won’t find it readily available in just any electronics store.
The 12-qubit quantum processor has been named Tunnel Falls, and its goal is to make this technology accessible to research centers and laboratories that cannot afford to develop and construct their own quantum chips. However, the problem is that Intel’s competitors are making much more powerful quantum chips with a higher number of qubits available through the cloud, making Tunnel Falls somewhat weaker in comparison.
Unlike its competitors, Intel is striving to make silicon-based quantum processors accessible, leveraging knowledge and advancements from the field of classical circuits. The company is also working towards building a community of customers and developers who will actively contribute to the development of this technology and improve future quantum processors, as stated by Interesting Engineering.
The company is succeeding in improving the manufacturing method of these quantum chips and is currently able to test hundreds of individual chips in a single night. However, if such a chip were to make its way into the hands of an ordinary user, it would be practically unusable. It still requires cooling to nearly absolute zero, and Intel has much more ambitious plans than what the 12-qubit chip suggests.
