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Quantum Scaling Alliance aims to make practical quantum

supercomputers

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Quantum chips need integration with classical computers

for

noise correction

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Alliance includes Applied Materials ( AMAT ), Synopsys ( SNPS ), and other

industry leaders

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - John M. Martinis, one

of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in physics for

breakthroughs in quantum computing, on Monday formed an alliance

with HPE and several chip firms to create a practical,

mass-producible quantum supercomputer.

Quantum computers hold the promise of solving problems in

chemistry, medicine and other fields that would take classical

computers thousands of years.

Major tech firms such as IBM ( IBM ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Alphabet's Google, where Martinis worked before

co-founding his current startup Qolab, are all racing to develop

the technology.

But those efforts are largely one-offs, being built one

computer at a time by small teams. The new group, called the

Quantum Scaling Alliance, aims to build quantum computers that

can be made with the same tools that churn out hundreds of

millions of chips a year for smartphones, laptops or AI servers.

Since the early work in the field in the 1980s, quantum

chips, which function using what are known as qubits, have been

made "in an artisanal way", small batches at a time, Martinis

told Reuters in an interview.

The alliance will include longtime chip industry suppliers such

as Applied Materials ( AMAT ), which makes chip manufacturing

tools, and Synopsys ( SNPS ), which makes chip design software,

that will create bigger, more consistent quantum chips.

"At this point, we think it's time to switch over to more of

a standard professional model, and that's using very

sophisticated tools," Martinis said.

As quantum chips are scaled up, they will need to be intertwined

with classical computers for vital functions such as correcting

errors that can disrupt the functioning of quantum circuits.

But weaving together classical machines with existing

supercomputers such as those made by HPE will not be simple,

because there are few industry-wide standards for how to do so.

Masoud Mohseni, a distinguished technologist leading the

quantum team at HPE, worked with Martinis and three dozen other

researchers on a blueprint for how to do so last year, a plan

they will put into action with the consortium.

"People think, naively, that once you have a system that is

hundreds (of qubits) or that if you make it to thousands, then

you can make it to millions. That's just not true," Mohseni said

in an interview. "At each scale, you face completely new

challenges."

The other founders of the alliance are 1QBit, Quantum

Machines, Riverlane and the University of Wisconsin.