Horse Ridge to aid quantum computing reality

Intel has announced a new SoC called Horse Ridge, that will help the company to control multiple qubits. This is a major advancement in quantum computing because traditionally, complicated instruments and myriad wires had to be routed to a cryogenic refrigerator. This is where the quantum computer is stored and operated from.

Horse Ridge replaces these bulky instruments and wires, as it able to work as a single unified package that is able to operate close to the quantum system. Essentially, it’s a radio frequency processor that controls the qubits operating in the refrigerator. It translates instructions into electromagnetic microwave pulses that can manipulate the state of the qubits.

Quantum computers require an extremely cold environment to operate efficiently. But with Intel’s progress with its research into silicon spin qubits, the operating temperatures could be increased to a more reasonable level. This, in turn, will allow for real world use quantum computing in the near future.

Horse Ridge can be considered as another milestone in Intel’s race to produce a quantum computer with real world applications. Besides Intel, IBM and Google also have a horse in this race. Quantum computing is regarded as the next evolutionary step for supercomputers. Just two months ago, Google announced that it had achieved quantum supremacy.

In layman’s terms, the search giant was able to provide quantitative results of a quantum computer’s data processing capabilities. It was able to complete a mathematical task in 200 seconds, the same task would require today’s fastest supercomputers 10,000 years to complete.

Photo Credit:
Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation