Silicon Quantum Computing built a bigger, better, faster processor chip

Sydney startup Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC), which builds its own quantum chips (QPUs) for commercial-scale quantum systems, has achieved a breakthrough in scaling processors. 

The company’s manufacturing process, developed over 25 years, patterns chips with 0.13 nanometer (atom level) precision to create the most accurate semiconductor manufacturing process in the world.

Details of the latest development, published in Nature, involve a multi-qubit, multi-register quantum processor with fidelities up to 99.99%, and quality and performance that improves as the system scales.

Typically, when quantum systems add more qubits and become more complex, their quality declines.

SQC’s founder and CEO Michelle Simmons said their architecture demonstrates the opposite: as qubit count increases, the qubit quality strengthens – a critical requirement for  fault tolerant, commercial scale systems.

“In most quantum systems,  scale comes at the cost of performance. Our system increases in quality as it scales, an immense achievement that we’re proud to share with the world,” she said.

“It’s a reflection of  our careful choices in materials, architecture and modality, which puts us on track to  deliver the world’s first commercial scale quantum computer.”

SQC chair Simon Segars said the announcement demonstrates the powerful simplicity of the company’s approach.

“Alongside our customers and partners, we’re delivering value and commercial advantage in quantum computing today,” he said.

“I’m proud to support a team that is both leading the field scientifically while delivering real-world solutions.”

Meanwhile, SQC, founded in 2017, recently progressed to Stage B of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative as its quantum technologies already delivers impact locally. Telstra reported dramatic reductions in model training time using SQC’s quantum machine learning systems. Additionally, Australian Defence purchased a rack mounted system for deployment within its datacentres.

SQC’s proprietary machines and processes allow the company to see and control matter atom-by-atom. Its atomically engineered quantum machine learning chips and universal quantum computing systems position the company at the forefront of quantum innovation.