Amazon announced Ocelot, the company's new processor for quantum computing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced its first quantum processor called Ocelot, designed to reduce quantum error correction costs by up to 90%.

Here's What We Know

The prototype chip uses "cat qubits" that suppress certain types of quantum errors. Unlike traditional approaches, AWS created Ocelot with quantum error correction as a core requirement. The chip consists of two 1 cm² multilayer silicon microchips containing 14 major components: 5 data qubits, 5 buffer circuits for stabilisation and 4 qubits dedicated to error detection.

Quantum computers are sensitive to environmental noise, including vibration, heat and electromagnetic interference, which interfere with the qubits and generate computational errors. These errors multiply as quantum systems scale, creating a significant barrier to practical quantum computing. Ocelot's high-quality oscillators, made from a thin film of superconducting tantalum, generate repetitive electrical signals that support quantum states.

Amazon believes that Ocelot represents an important step towards the development of quantum computers capable of solving problems inaccessible to conventional computers. However, industry analysts categorise Ocelot as "much more progress than a breakthrough", noting that superconducting qubits designed to withstand certain types of errors are not entirely new.

Source: Amazon