Did Microsoft Recently Make a Quantum Computing Breakthrough? Physicists Cast Their Doubts on the Claims

 

Some physicists are doubting the claims made last month by Microsoft after it shared a breakthrough in quantum computing.

The software giant’s claims were outlined as unreliable and the need to be revisited in the future, a leading quantum physicist from St. Andrews University says. Henry Legg shed light on how he and his team made major progress on a two-decade-old quest to produce the first ever topological qubits using Majorana particles.

Therefore, he feels the work lacks a constant definition and the results can vary greatly, even for measurements done on a similar device. However, the news didn’t make Microsoft happy. The company's VP for quantum dismissed the claims as a load of hot air, insisting the critics hadn’t even peeked at the published papers. He also says they lack the basic comprehension to try to understand the findings.

Microsoft put its findings in Nature, but without peer review, some saw it as skating on thin ice. While the study outlined the approach, it does not speak about progress as per one spokesperson from the software giant.

The tech giant mentioned how there is so much progress since when this domain was last studied. However, it lacks to defend its claims as no future publishing was done in the form of a more detailed report.

Another critic was seen questioning the news on social media shortly after it was revealed. So this means that the matter they are working on for the past two decades was attained successfully, but they are not going to publish more details on the findings, she added.

The head for Amazon’s quantum tech also shared more on this subject. They said that the report in Nature does not really demonstrate anything major or justify the claims Microsoft has made. The matter is a major tech advancement. But it doubted it was a serious breakthrough. Some people at Amazon went as far as to call the claims made by Microsoft, nothing but serious hype.

On the other hand, Amazon tried to steal the limelight with its own breakthrough findings. This includes a new quantum computing chip called Ocelot. Meanwhile, Google shared its own quantum chip called Willow late last year.