Intel Showcases Its First 49 Quantum Processor

Intel has taken advantage of the CES 2018 celebration to take an important new step forward in the quantum computing market, the semiconductor giant has shown the world its first 49-qubit quantum processor, a real achievement considering the few months that have passed since they showed off their 17-qubit processor.

Intel already has a 49-qubit processor

This new 49-qubit processor has been dubbed "Tangle Lake, " a name that has been inspired by Alaska's lakes. This name refers to the need for this new processor to operate in extremely cold temperatures, something essential in quantum computing.

Best processors on the market (January 2018)

IBM has been in charge of waiting the party for Intel with the presentation of a processor that goes even further by having 50-qubit, thus showing that it is a step ahead of Intel in this sector that is still in its infancy, and which still lacks many decades of research and development. Intel Labs Corporate Vice President and General Manager Mike Mayberry expects it will be five to seven years before the industry begins to face engineering scale issues, with more than 1 million qubits required for something to look like "Commercially relevant".

While Intel's current chips are based on superconducting qubits, the company is also researching what they call Spin Qubits, something that can be replicated in silicon and offers the potential to be easier to scale due to their small size in compared to superconducting qubits. Spin Qubits have the drawback that they require quantum electron control and single-atom nuclear spin, which in turn requires a high level of precision.

Overclock3d font