Intel Corp.’s research division Intel Labs today lifted the lid on the technical specs of its new cryogenic quantum control chip Horse Ridge, saying it can now demonstrate “quantum practicality.”

Quantum practicality means the chip has the scalability, flexibility and fidelity necessary to make the leap from research to commercial viability, according to Intel.

“Today, quantum researchers work with just a small number of qubits, using smaller, custom-designed systems surrounded by complex control and interconnect mechanisms,” Intel Labs director of quantum hardware Jim Clarke said. “Intel’s Horse Ridge greatly minimizes this complexity. By systematically working to scale to thousands of qubits required for quantum practicality, we’re continuing to make steady progress toward making commercially viable quantum computing a reality in our future.”

Quantum computers are based on a fundamentally different computing architecture in which processing can occur in multiple states simultaneously. Whereas traditional computers use binary digits or “bits,” which can be represented as 1 or 0, quantum computing uses “qubits” that can be “superpositioned,” allowing them to be represented as 1s, 0s or both states at the same time.

In addition, qubits can use a method called superdense coding that allows them to hold two bits simultaneously. So two superpositioned bits held in one qubit means they can process four times the data of ordinary computers.

The other important distinction of quantum computers is something called “entanglement,” or the ability of qubits to correlate with each other so that each is aware of the state of all the others. That means quantum computers grow in power exponentially as qubits are added. So in theory a 200-qubit system is 2,200 times as powerful as a 100-qubit system.

Intel said it collaborated with QuTech, which is a partnership between TU Delft and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, on the Horse Ridge chip. As far as scalability goes, the chip can integrate four radio frequency channels within a single 4-by-4-millimeter device, using Intel’s 22-nanometer FFL CMOS technology.

Each of those channels can control up to 32 qubits and leverage something called “frequency multiplexing,” in which the total bandwidth available is divided into a series of non-overlapping frequency bands that can each be used to carry separate signals. That enables Horse Ridge to control up to 128 qubits in total, Intel said, significantly reducing the amount of cables and rack instrumentations needed.

However, Intel said the increased qubit count creates problems that affect the chip’s capacity and operation, leading to a decline in performance and fidelity. Intel explained that it optimized the multiplexing technology that allows the system to scale up and reduce errors from “phase shift.” That’s a phenomenon that can occur when controlling many qubits at different frequencies, producing crosstalk among qubits.

To get around that, Intel has made it so that Horse Ridge can be tuned with a higher level of precision, thereby enabling it to adapt and automatically correct phase shift when controlling multiple qubits, thus improving fidelity.

Intel also said that Horse Ridge offers the flexibility to both superconducting qubits, or transmons, and spin qubits, which are another, more stable kind of qubit. The increased stability allows spin qubits to operate at 13 to 20 gigahertz, while superconducting qubits typically operate at around 6 GHz to 7 GHz.

Intel is also exploring silicon spin qubits, which could operate at temperatures as high as 1 kelvin, or -458 degrees Fahrenheit. The research, Intel added, could help integrate silicon spin qubit devices and the cryogenic controls of Horse Ridge to deliver the qubits and controls in a single streamlined package.

Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Paul Smith-Goodson told SiliconANGLE he was impressed with Horse Ridge, as it sits near the quantum chip and functions at cryogenic temperatures and eliminates the need for lots of wires and control leads.

“The advantage to that is it reduces noise,” the analyst said. “Noise is one of the main problems with today’s quantum computers. Less noise means you can build bigger quantum computers. Definitely, a thumbs up device that will advance quantum computing.”

“We know that Intel wants and needs a slice of the quantum computing market, and it’s trying to get it by helping quantum computing vendors manage their sophisticated hardware,” said Holger Mueller, an analyst with Constellation Research Inc. “Intel’s research is also another confidence-building point for quantum computing, as it’s not a company that would simply make accessories. But the question now is, can Intel get a bigger slice of native quantum computing loads with its new chip offering?”

Photo: Intel