Intel Creates ‘Horse Ridge’ Chip to Control Quantum Computers

(Reuters) Intel Corp on Monday announced a chip that it hopes will eliminate the tangle of wires connected to equipment that controls a quantum computer. The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker announced a chip called “Horse Ridge” that is designed to take all the work being done by the wires and shrink it down to a chip and electronics about the size of a tea cup saucer.
Intel said its chip – which is named for one of the coldest spots in the U.S. state of Oregon, where many of its factories are located – is designed to be able to sit inside the quantum refrigerator. The company hopes the chip will make its quantum computers more practical to produce in the future.
“Intel recognized that quantum controls were an essential piece of the puzzle we needed to solve in order to develop a large-scale commercial quantum system,” Jim Clarke, Intel’s director of quantum hardware, said in a statement.