Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the development of a new quantum computing chip, dubbed Ocelot, which it believes could shave up to five years off its timeline for building a commercially viable quantum computer.
The prototype, unveiled on Thursday alongside a peer-reviewed paper in Nature, represents a significant technological leap despite currently possessing only a fraction of the computing power required for a fully operational quantum system.
Quantum computers promise to perform calculations that would take conventional machines millions of years, potentially revolutionizing industries ranging from materials science to pharmaceuticals. However, the fragile nature of qubits—the fundamental building blocks of quantum computing—necessitates robust error correction mechanisms. Traditional industry estimates have held that around one million physical qubits are needed to produce a sufficient number of reliable logical qubits for practical computing tasks.
AWS’s Ocelot chip, however, employs an innovative "cat" qubit approach, inspired by Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, which allows the system to yield one working logical qubit from just nine physical qubits. Oskar Painter, AWS Director of Quantum Hardware, explained that this breakthrough could eventually enable useful quantum computers to be built with only 100,000 physical qubits—a reduction by a factor of five to ten compared to conventional estimates.
Constructed using standard semiconductor techniques and the material tantalum, the current prototype serves as a proof-of-concept. Painter noted, “We hope to customize these techniques further, making improvements at the materials and processing levels that will simplify the underlying technology and accelerate our development timeline.”
The announcement comes as major industry players, including Google, Microsoft, and startup PsiQuantum, also make strides in the rapidly evolving field of quantum computing. AWS’s latest venture underscores its commitment to remaining at the forefront of quantum innovation as it races to transform theoretical promise into commercial reality.
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Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
A powerful explosion has been reported at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, raising fresh concerns over aviation security in Saudi Arabia as tensions across the region continue to escalate.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (9 October) escalating tensions with European allies and potentially targeting companies that provide services to the tribunal. The move came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Anthropic has announced that it is updating its usage policy to allow its AI agents to end conversations involving repeated abuse or cruel behaviour towards them, citing previous incidents.
Türkiye has banned children under 15 from using social media under new regulations published on Saturday. The new regulations prohibit firms from providing services to children “who have not reached the age of 15.”
Microsoft has introduced new tools to stop AI agents from accessing data without permission, alongside a Nvidia-powered Surface laptop that can run advanced AI directly on the device.
Picture three scenarios: a hospital that can spot a disease before the patient feels sick, a power grid that feeds thousands of data centres and a government network that is attacked daily. All three depend on artificial intelligence, and one question matters most: who is really in charge?
OpenAI and Anthropic told Australian parliament on Tuesday they would welcome laws requiring them to report data breaches carried out by their AI agents, acknowledging the decision to notify authorities was currently at their discretion.
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