When we talk about Quantum computing, we think of big tech giants such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft. It appears a new competitor has entered the world of Quantum computing.
Honeywell, a US-based company involved in a number of industries such as Aerospace, Chemicals, Retail has announced it will unveil “the most powerful quantum computer yet” in the coming few months.
To leverage on the software side, Honeywell announced that it had made strategic investments “in quantum software and algorithm startups Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) and Zapata Computing.”
Moreover, the industry gaint has also announced a partnership with Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, which will put Honeywell’s quantum computer in the market for quantum services.
World’s best quantum computer, but how?
Most quantum computers revolve around superconducting qubits and supercooled circuits. However, Honeywell’s Quantum computer talks about quantum volume.
It is a metric system that “takes into account the number of qubits, connectivity, and gate and measurement errors” as per IBM. Essentially, the volume is proportional to how complex problems can be solved by a quantum computer.
Honeywell claims that it has managed to reach a quantum volume of at least 64. Meanwhile, IBM has only managed to come up with a maximum quantum volume of 32 in its quantum computers.
To achieve this, Honeywell’s Quantum computer uses something called ion traps. They hold electrically charged atoms in the superpositioned state. As MIT Technology notes, ion traps are more accurate and hold the qubits for longer.
Honeywell claims that it can pause quantum computation and restart it on a different path, depending upon the results.
“World’s best?” Time will tell
Last year, Google claimed that it has achieved Quantum supremacy with its quantum computer of 53 qubits. For those who don’t know, quantum supremacy is the ability of quantum computing devices to solve problems that ordinary computers simply can’t.
However, IBM later knocked down Google’s claims since Google’s quantum computer solved only one specific equation.
Now, the “best quantum computer” claim from Honeywell will undoubtedly be met with a lot of suspicion and skepticism from experts.
