Quantum microchips have been connected

UK researchers have successfully transferred data between quantum microchips for the first time.

The milestone for quantum computing was achieved by the University of Sussex, UK, and the computer developer Universal Quantum in Brighton, UK.

The team says that many more qubits, the basic calculating unit, can now be joined than is possible on a single microchip.

The project claims to have broken the world record for quantum connection speed and accuracy. The researchers say they were able to transport the qubits using electrical fields with a 99.999993% success rate and a connection rate of 2424 transfers per second.

Scaling qubit numbers from the current level of around 100 to one million is central to building a quantum processor that can conduct useful calculations.

The researchers based their work on a technical blueprint to create a large-scale quantum computer, first published in 2017.

The project was backed by the Engineerring and Physical Sciences Research Council.