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  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Intel brings quantum-computing microchips a step closer

By adapting methods for fabricating and testing conventional computer chips, researchers have brought silicon-based quantum computers closer to reality — and to accessing the immense benefits of a mature chipmaking industry.
  1. Ruoyu Li

    1. Ruoyu Li is at Imec, Leuven 3001, Belgium.

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Quantum computers can outpace classical computers, but so far this ‘quantum advantage’ has been shown only for certain algorithms, and with tens or hundreds of quantum bits (qubits)1–3. To realize a general-purpose quantum computer that can solve practical problems, millions or even billions of qubits are needed4. Semiconductor technologies have already put billions of transistors on a classical computer chip, so quantum scientists and engineers have started to wonder whether the same techniques could be applied to quantum computers. Writing in Nature, Neyens et al.5 answer in the affirmative. Working at US technology company Intel, one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers, the team used semiconductor technology to fabricate silicon qubits on a wafer 300 millimetres in diameter, the largest chip substrate used in the semiconductor industry. With a high success rate and impressive uniformity, these qubits represent a key step towards quantum computers of sufficient scale to tackle real-world applications.

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Nature 629, 50-51 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01208-z

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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