QuantWare debuts 64-qubit quantum computing processor

Netherlands startup QuantWare is launching a 64-qubit processor that's based on superconducting circuits. Recently Tech.eu has explored various alternatives to superconducting quantum circuits, so it is worth weighing them against the QuantWare technology.

QuantWare's quantum processor, dubbed Tenor, was selected to run Israel's first full functioning quantum computer.

It's claimed to offer a 10x lower price point than competing superconductor-powered quantum computers.

Such superconductors are used to create qubit atoms, charged in such a way they enact quantum entanglement, in theory enabling many more calculations to occur synchronously. 

Quantware says earlier generation superconducting devices required planar connections between qubits and the outside world, generally directed toward the edges of the chip. 

With its patented three-dimensional technology, it proposes to route qubits vertically to hypothetically stack thousands of entangled superconducting qubits, increasing the number of connections that its architecture can house.

Quantware, a spinout based on TU Delft research, said: "Because the qubits are fully controllable, these processors are very suitable for powerful error-correction schemes. Such a design requires more connections per qubit than the often used fixed frequency qubits, and as such were impossible at a scale of 64 qubits with conventional planar devices."

Staying with superconductors has enabled all qubits in the latest Tenor model to be fully programmable. A major advantage against some of the alternatives is that experts know more about controlling superconducting qubits and correcting for errors — they've been around for decades — but the temperature requirement has been another scaling bottleneck.

Historically superconducting quantum computers were considered the most robust method for creating entangled qubits, but scaling bottlenecks have seen other methods gaining plaudits in early testing. A 127-qubit superconductor quantum computer was unveiled by IBM in late-2021.