Two Intel Teams Have Developed Silicon Based Quantum Computing Chips

There’s another quantum computer to keep track of in this Wild West era of quantum computing research we’re in. And it uses some parts you might already be familiar with.

Researchers from two teams now working with Intel have reported advances in a new quantum computing architecture, called spin qubits, in a pair of papers out today. They’re obviously not the full-purpose quantum computers of the future. But they’ve got a major selling point over other quantum computing designs.

“We made these qubits in silicon chips, similar to what’s used in classical computer processes,” study author Thomas Watson from TU Delft in the Netherlands told me. “The hope is that by doing things this way, we can potentially scale up to larger numbers needed to perform useful quantum computing.”

link.

Intel Announces 49 Qubit Quantum Computer

Quantum computing has been a major research topic for multiple companies the past few years, with D-Wave, IBM, and Intel all launching their own systems and improving them at a fairly rapid clip. At CES 2018 this week, Intel’s CEO, Brian Krzanich, declared the company’s new 49-qubit quantum computer represented a step towards “quantum supremacy.”

A 49 qubit system is a major advance for Intel, which just demonstrated a 17-qubit system two months ago. Intel’s working with the Netherlands-based Qutech on this project, and expanding the number of qubits is key to creating quantum computers that can deliver real-world results.

When Intel launched its 17-qubit system in October, it wrote: “Qubits are tremendously fragile: Any noise or unintended observation of them can cause data loss. This fragility requires them to operate at about 20 millikelvin – 250 times colder than deep space.” This is also why we won’t be seeing quantum computers in anyone’s house at any point. While early classical computers were also room-sized and required commensurate cooling solutions, there’s no known way to build hand-sized or even desktop quantum machines that incorporate the cooling required.

link.

Once Again, Moore's Law is Toast

As reported at The Motley Fool, Intel’s latest 10-K / annual report filing would seem to suggest that the ‘Tick-Tock’ strategy of introducing a new lithographic process note in one product cycle (a ‘tick’) and then an upgraded microarchitecture the next product cycle (a ‘tock’) is going to fall by the wayside for the next two lithographic nodes at a minimum, to be replaced with a three element cycle known as ‘Process-Architecture-Optimization’.

Intel’s Tick-Tock strategy has been the bedrock of their microprocessor dominance of the last decade. Throughout the tenure, every other year Intel would upgrade their fabrication plants to be able to produce processors with a smaller feature set, improving die area, power consumption, and slight optimizations of the microarchitecture, and in the years between the upgrades would launch a new set of processors based on a wholly new (sometimes paradigm shifting) microarchitecture for large performance upgrades. However, due to the difficulty of implementing a ‘tick’, the ever decreasing process node size and complexity therein, as reported previously with 14nm and the introduction of Kaby Lake, Intel’s latest filing would suggest that 10nm will follow a similar pattern as 14nm by introducing a third stage to the cadence.

link.

2nd link.

Intel's Annual Report (PDF).

Moore's Law: Stick a Fork in it! Its Done!

It may be time for another revision to Moore's Law, if Intel's recent troubles keeping pace are any indication.

In a conference call on Wednesday, Intel confirmed that its upcoming generation of processors, codenamed Cannonlake, will not launch until the second half of 2017 -- nearly three years after the previous generation was made available. To bridge the gap, Intel plans to launch the third iteration of its current-generation processors, codenamed Kaby Lake, in the second half of 2016.

link.

We've already broken the 18 month cycle.  We've already slipped to 30 months and counting for the next iteration.  The Singularity, sir; its done.

 

Intel has Developed RealSense: a 3d Scanner Built Into a Tablet

Intel has been working on a 3D scanner small enough to fit in the bezel of even the thinnest tablets. The company aims to have the technology in tablets from 2015, with CEO Brian Krzanich telling the crowd at MakerCon in New York on Thursday that he hopes to put the technology in phones as well.

"Our goal is to just have a tablet that you can go out and buy that has this capability," Krzanich said. "Eventually within two or three years I want to be able to put it on a phone."

Krzanich and a few of his colleagues demonstrated the technology, which goes by the name "RealSense," on stage using a human model and an assistant who simply circled the model a few times while pointing a tablet at the subject. A full 3D rendering of the model slowly appeared on the screen behind the stage in just a few minutes. The resulting 3D models can be manipulated with software or sent to a 3D printer.

"The idea is you go out, you see something you like and you just capture it," Krzanich explained. He said consumer tablets with built in 3D scanners will hit the market in the third or fourth quarter of 2015, with Intel also working on putting the 3D scanning cameras on drones.

link.

heh.  Betcha this or a version after gets banned from art galleries.  

T-Loramids: Turkeys Curious Walk With Missile Contract to Chinese Company

Turkey has been negotiating with a Chinese firm, the China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC), to co-produce a $3.44 billion long-range air and anti-missile defense system. This has not only strained Ankara’s relations with Washington, but also raised the question of whether the deal indicates an ideological or geopolitical shift in Turkey’s foreign policy and security aims. Although the Chinese option may indeed result in political repercussions for Turkey’s relations with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the decision itself was not motivated by ideological or geopolitical concerns. Rather, Turkey’s negotiations with Chinese defense contractors represent a purely instrumental and strategic decision for an aspiring regional power that has been seeking to bolster its own national defense industry since 1985.

Tension mounted between Turkey and the Transatlantic security community when Murad Bayar, Turkey’s undersecretary for the defense industry (SSM), announced on September 26 that Turkey had short-listed China’s FD-2000/HQ-9 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system to meet its six-year air defense project, titled T-Loramids. Turkey’s decision to start “contract negotiations” to purchase critical high-tech defense equipment from China created quite a surprise and discontent in the West, especially because in early 2013 Turkey received six NATO Patriot Missile batteries from the US, Germany and the Netherlands to help defend itself against possible missile attacks from Syria. Indeed, US and NATO officials have expressed “serious concern” over Turkey short-listing the Chinese company, emphasizing that the Chinese missile defense system would not be interoperable and compatible with NATO’s collective defense capabilities. Washington is also apparently displeased by the fact that the tender was awarded to a Chinese company under US sanctions for violating the embargo on defense technology exports to Iran, North Korea and Syria.

In an effort to reassure Turkey’s allies, SSM Bayar, who in his position is responsible for his country’s defense procurement, held a press conference on October 3. Bayar stressed that “full integration with NATO assets was an explicit condition in the contract for the planned air defense system,” and that “as part of this program, a Turkish defense company will be tasked with integrating the missile defense system into a network operated by the Turkish Air Force.” Thus, Turkey hopes the interoperability issue with Alliance assets will be settled.

link.

The question becomes....  

Is this a ploy to get the West to hand over more technology for the local industry?  Look!  You need to hurry or look what I'll do!  

Or is it a genuine shift? 

I'd be very, very shocked if the NATO allies, especially we Americans, allowed a Chinese system to be plugged into our defense network...