Google Quantum AI, which was founded in 2012, is on a mission to build quantum computers to solve otherwise unsolvable problems. The company is making progress in this regard with the latest Willow chip as an example. To help it further, Atlantic Quantum, an MIT-founded startup, is joining Google, specifically to aid in the development of a large, error-corrected quantum computer and real-world applications.
Atlantic Quantum has been developing integrated quantum computing hardware, with the primary value of the company for Google being its modular chip stack. The stack combines qubits and superconducting control electronics within the cold stage. With this technology, Google will be able to better scale its superconducting qubit hardware more effectively.
Excitingly, the acquisition of Atlantic Quantum’s team and technology will accelerate Google’s quantum computing roadmap, which means end products will be available faster and the solving of currently unsolvable problems. Google’s announcement was quite short and didn’t outline the terms of the acquisition, nor the timeline for the ultimate goal of a fully error-corrected quantum computer.
With this chip, Google will be able to build on its work with the Willow chip but develop something that can more effectively scale. Atlantic Quantum’s use of a modular design that combines qubits and control electronics in the cold stage is the main mechanism for achieving this improved scaling.
Quantum computers are widely believed to become really useful in the 2030s. Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled Majorana 1, which was a major breakthrough as it was capable of holding 1 million error-resistant topological qubits. Error-resistance is really important in quantum computing; this is what Google is trying to reduce with this acquisition.
Source: Google