Intel – the quantum player of the future?
“It could be that Lip-Bu Tan wants to realign Intel’s focus and investments in quantum computing,” suggests Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. However, little is currently known about Intel’s quantum computing activities. The company’s latest quantum chip, “Tunnel Falls,” was announced in 2023. However, Intel recently invested $178 million in the Dutch quantum specialist QuantWare – although that is no guarantee that the company will adopt their technology in the future.
The chip giant has a solid track record of technological “moonshots” and is an industry leader when it comes to neuromorphic chips, says Ian Cutress, chief analyst at IT consultancy More Than Moore. However, in order to catch up with or even surpass the competition in the area of quantum technologies, a lot still has to happen: “IBM is far ahead with its quantum initiatives. The group is already offering a quantum cloud and has a mature product plan for the coming years.”
The analyst advises user companies to approach the change of course with caution, after all, traditional computer architectures are difficult to displace: “Any technology that comes from research and development will not replace current high-performance hardware – but will run parallel to it. The hardware stack of the future will probably consist of a combination of CPUs, GPUs and quantum computing chips and not just be based on an independently operating quantum processor.”
