Intel says it has solved a key bottleneck in quantum computing

Intel just took a significant step toward making quantum computing more practical. The company and QuTech say they've demonstrated the first instance of high-fidelity two-qubit control using its Horse Ridge cryogenic control processor. Quantum computers normally run into an interconnect bottleneck by using room-temperature electronics to steer a refrigerated quantum chip - the demo showed that Horse Ridge could achieve the same fidelity (99.99 percent) as those 'hotter' electronics.

© Marieke de LorijnIntel Horse Ridge cryogenic qubit control processor

The two firms also showed that Horse Ridge could control multiple qubits on a single radio frequency line, also known as frequency multiplexing, by using an algorithm (Deutsch-Jonza) that's much more efficient on quantum computers than conventional machines.

The breakthrough could lead to processors that integrate the electronics and the quantum chip on the same die. That, in turn, could make it much easier to scale quantum computers and have them tackle more of the calculations that would be difficult or impossible with traditional computing power.