An experimental Microsoft computer chip under development will deliver a one-two tech punch, according to the company.
The first blow is a statement that Microsoft scientists have developed the first-ever quantum-computing chip in its class. This form of computing could theoretically make, ahem, quantum leaps in both speed and number of calculations a computer could perform simultaneously.
The physics that theoretically would power such a chip is hard to understand — even for some physicists.
“Quantum refers to the scale of atoms and molecules where the laws of physics as we experience them break down and a different, counterintuitive set of laws apply,” Daniel Lidar, a University of Southern California scientist wrote in an article. “Quantum computers take advantage of these strange behaviors to solve problems.”
The second sock is that the chip uses a new state of matter — neither solid, liquid, nor gas — to help power that ...
