Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Intel brings quantum-computing microchips a step closer

By adapting methods for fabricating and testing conventional computer chips, researchers have brought silicon-based quantum computers closer to reality — and to accessing the immense benefits of a mature chipmaking industry.
  1. Ruoyu Li

    1. Ruoyu Li is at Imec, Leuven 3001, Belgium.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Quantum computers can outpace classical computers, but so far this ‘quantum advantage’ has been shown only for certain algorithms, and with tens or hundreds of quantum bits (qubits)1–3. To realize a general-purpose quantum computer that can solve practical problems, millions or even billions of qubits are needed4. Semiconductor technologies have already put billions of transistors on a classical computer chip, so quantum scientists and engineers have started to wonder whether the same techniques could be applied to quantum computers. Writing in Nature, Neyens et al.5 answer in the affirmative. Working at US technology company Intel, one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers, the team used semiconductor technology to fabricate silicon qubits on a wafer 300 millimetres in diameter, the largest chip substrate used in the semiconductor industry. With a high success rate and impressive uniformity, these qubits represent a key step towards quantum computers of sufficient scale to tackle real-world applications.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 629, 50-51 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01208-z

References

  1. Arute, F. et al. Nature 574, 505–510 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhong, H.-S. et al. Science 370, 1460–1463 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Madsen, L. et al. Nature 606, 75–81 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Fowler, A., Mariantoni, M., Martinis, J. M. & Cleland, A. N. Phys. Rev. A 86, 032324 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Neyens, S. et al. Nature 629, 80–85 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Warren, A. & Economou, S. E. Nature 601, 320–322 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Franke, D. P., Clarke, J. S., Vandersypen, L. M. K. & Veldhorst, M. Microprocess. Microsyst. 67, 1–7 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Zwerver, A. M. J. et al. Nature Electron. 5, 184–190 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Contamin, L. C. et al. in 2022 International Electron Devices Meeting 22.1.1–22.1.4 (IEEE, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links