Earlier today, Amazon’s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), announced ‘Ocelot,’ a new scalable quantum computing solution. AWS claims Ocelot can reduce the costs of quantum computing error correction by up to 90% compared to existing methods.
This announcement follows closely on the heels of Microsoft’s introduction of ‘Majorana 1,’ a scalable quantum computing solution that focuses on increasing raw computing power through new ‘topoconductor’ technology. While Microsoft aims for speed, AWS’s Ocelot prioritizes cost-effective error correction.
Given AWS’s extensive reach, which includes over 1.45 million companies, according to Avention Media—and giants like Netflix in its client roster—it’s understandable that they are seeking ways to reduce the expenses of cutting-edge quantum computing solutions.
So, how does Ocelot achieve this, and why the name? The name is derived from a specific species of wild cat from the Americas, similar to the character ‘Ocelot’ in the video game Metal Gear Solid (1999). The AWS Ocelot is built around a novel design that utilizes ‘cat qubits.’ These qubits are designed to inherently suppress specific types of errors, thereby reducing the resources and costs required for quantum error correction. AWS has integrated ‘additional quantum error components into a microchip that can be manufactured in a scalable fashion using processes borrowed from the microelectronics industry,’ creating the Ocelot architecture.
For those unfamiliar with quantum computing, a qubit is the quantum equivalent of a classical computing bit. While a bit can be either ‘1’ or ‘0,’ a qubit can represent either of those states or a ‘quantum superposition of 0 and 1,’ as stated in Microsoft’s documentation.
The core innovation is the ‘cat qubit,’ which is a form of qubit with integrated quantum error correction. It’s akin to ECC (error-checking code) RAM in conventional computing.
Oskar Painter, AWS director of Quantum Hardware, stated, “With the recent advancements in quantum research, it is no longer a matter of if, but when practical, fault-tolerant quantum computers will be available for real-world applications. Ocelot is an important step on that journey. In the future, quantum chips built according to the Ocelot architecture could cost as little as one-fifth of current approaches, due to the drastically reduced number of resources required for error correction. Concretely, we believe this will accelerate our timeline to a practical quantum computer by up to five years.”
These optimistic statements echo Microsoft’s recent assertion that ‘quantum computers capable of solving meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.’ Ultimately, it is unclear which approach will lead to market-ready products first, these developments show an accelerated push to mainstream quantum computing. This growing competition between these tech giants is encouraging for businesses and consumers.
