quantum

Microsoft believed it would take decades to have a useful quantum computer. Majorana 2 just pushed that deadline to 2029

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Finding the Majorana particle would be the best thing that could happen to them. quantum computers. The Italian physicist Ettore Majorana mathematically described its existence in 1937, and since then many researchers have become obsessed with it because it has a characteristic that makes it unique: it is both a particle and its own antiparticle. What makes it very attractive for quantum computing is that, when it appears, it does so in pairs and its topological nature gives it a resistance to external noise that conventional qubits do not have. This distribution of information at two separate points means that local errors triggered by vibrations, temperature or radiation cannot easily erase it. The coincidence of this duplicity and its stability suggests that these particles could be used to make qubits that are more stable and less prone to external perturbations than the qubits used in current quantum computers. Or that, at least, is what Microsoft is pursuing, although with an important nuance: it sounds very good, but after the cold water of 2021 physicists are extraordinarily careful when dealing with them. Microsoft promises to have a functional quantum computer in 2029 Microsoft does not work with Majorana fermions in the strict sense of the elementary particle predicted by Ettore Majorana. What you are looking for are Majorana modes or Majorana quasiparticles: collective excitations that emerge in certain topological superconducting materials and that behave as if they were Majorana fermions. They are not fundamental particles; They are emerging phenomena in the field of condensed matter. This strategy allowed Microsoft officially present in February 2025 Majorana 1, the first topological quantum processor. However, the scientific community received it with skepticism. And it did so because the Redmond company claimed to have created a state of matter in silicon that until then it only existed in theory. His proposal was to use Majorana modes as a basis for more stable quantum computing. Majorana 2 has been developed with the help of Discovery artificial intelligence The problem is that Microsoft had tried to demonstrate something similar before, in 2018, and the scientific article that supported it ended up being retracted by Nature three years later. Majorana 1 was, in that sense, both a technical advance and an attempt to regain credibility. And now Majorana 2 arrives. Microsoft has confirmed that this new quantum processor has been developed with the help of its artificial intelligence (IA) Discovery, and has also explained that it incorporates new materials with the purpose of accelerating the arrival of an error-resistant, and therefore fully functional, quantum computer. Chetan Nayak, CTO and Corporate Vice President of Quantum Hardware, has explained that the Microsoft Quantum team has improved the materials stack used in Majorana 1 for the purpose of create a more stable topological phase. Majorana 2 replaces aluminum with lead, and upgrades the semiconducting active region to a combination of indium arsenide and indium arsenide-antimonide. This change in materials has triggered, according to Microsoftsignificant performance improvements. And it also helps protect the fragile qubits of cosmic disturbances that can destabilize them. Be that as it may, this statement from Nayak summarizes the impact that Microsoft believes Majorana 2 will have on its roadmap: “Based on this rapid progress, we are accelerating our plan toward a scalable and practical quantum computer: we have cut our schedule in half and now aim to reach this goal in 2029.” It is an ambitious promise. And with Microsoft’s track record in quantum computing, the scientific community has reason to continue to be demanding when evaluating it. Image | Microsoft More information | Microsoft In Xataka | 38% of AI experts in the US have been trained in China. They are essential to sustain your leadership

When the fathers of quantum physics discovered the fundamental ideas of reality, they discovered that a Jesuit had already been there 200 years before.

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The story is a classic of popular science: 200 years before the birth of quantum physics, the Jesuit Ruđer Bošković advanced the central ideas of 20th century physics: field theory, the uncertainty principle and even dark energy. Furthermore, he did it alone. What Bošković did, as Héctor Farrés points outit’s incredible. Not only is it real and important, but it is beyond doubt (Heisenberg himself lor recognized in 58), but what he didn’t do too. The latter is, in fact, the most interesting. What Bošković knew. In 1758, the Jesuit (who was one of the great mathematicians of the time and had even helped fix the dome of St. Peter’s) published in Vienna ‘Philosophiae naturalis theoria redacts ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium‘. In this book he developed ideas that he had already presented almost 15 years earlier in Rome: that matter was not made of extended solid corpuscles (as Newtonian physics maintained), nor of inextended metaphysical monads (as Leibniz thought). For Bošković, matter is essentially composed of dimensionless points that only exist as points of force. In essence, Bošković believed that Newton’s inverse square law was a ‘limiting case’ (for planetary bodies) of a different equation that governed the relationship of all things in nature. Just this idea that scale is important, that the behavior of forces could change radically depending on it, deserves to go down in the history of physics. Because? Because it is the piece that helps us stop understanding matter as impenetrable ‘bodies’ and allows us to understand that impenetrability as an effect: it was giving mathematical entity to atomism. And the most interesting thing is that his later influence is real. It is documented, come on: there is a chain of readings that takes us from these ideas to those of William Rowan Hamiltonthe most direct precursor of quantum mechanics. Apparently, Werner Heisenberg, he of the uncertainty principle, he even said in 1958 that “the remarkable concept that forces are repulsive at small distances and must be attractive at greater distances has played a decisive role in modern atomic physics. (…) Bohr’s quantum theory of the atom can be precisely related to this concept, and the study of the atomic nucleus during the last thirty years has taught us that the particles that constitute the nucleus, protons and neutrons, are bound together by precisely such a force.” However, one should not exaggerate either. As Borges said when talking about Kafka, authors create their own precursors. That is, as Heisenberg himself said, Bošković’s work “contains numerous ideas that have only achieved full expression in modern physics in the last fifty years.” They were brilliant intuitions that are fully understood in the light of quantum physics, but not seeds that logically contained all the physics of the 20th century within them. A very common mistake. Too common, in fact. We don’t usually approach history from what we already know and there, of course, the similarities shine in the middle of the night. The reality is that what we see are usually ‘pareidolias’: things that say more about us and the functioning of our brain than about what happened in the past. Image | Xataka In Xataka | One of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century already identified the problem of Generation Z: “Not tolerating boredom”

IBM has made the largest quantum chemistry simulation to date. It is a success for quantum computers

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The prototypes of quantum computers currently available are gradually breaking down some barriers. These machines have a weak point: they make mistakes. This is the reason why Ignacio Cirac, the Spanish physicist who, together with Peter Zoller, developed the theoretical basis of quantum computing, holds that the correct thing is to identify them as prototypes to differentiate them from the fully functional quantum computers that will hopefully arrive in the future. During the conversation we had with Ignacio Cirac in June 2021, the director of the Theoretical Division of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics he explained to us who believed that quantum computers will be very valuable tools in the field of quantum chemistry to, for example, design drugs. Just five years after that conversation, a very important milestone has occurred that invites us to scan the horizon of this discipline with a very healthy optimism. And a group of researchers from IBM; the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing, in Japan; and Cleveland Clinic, in the USA, have carried out the largest quantum-classical chemistry simulation carried out to date. It’s a very important achievement for a reason: it represents a huge leap in the way quantum computers can be used alongside classical supercomputers to study real-world chemistry problems. “This result is a dream” Dr. Kenneth Merz, the leader of this research, assures that the result obtained by the team he leads is a dream. Until now, the most ambitious simulation that had been possible in this area using a quantum computer recreated a protein with only 303 atoms. However, Merz’s team has managed to simulate two biologically relevant proteins (T4-Lysozyme and Trypsin), as well as the molecules to which they bind, in a completely realistic aqueous environment and reaching 12,635 atoms. To make this possible, they have used two quantum processors that add up to 94 qubits, executing 9,200 circuits over more than 100 hours and collecting 1.3 billion measurement results. The quantum data were subsequently processed with the Japanese supercomputer Fugaku. In this area, the calculation capacity of quantum computers makes a difference, although the merit does not belong exclusively to these machines. The strategy that these scientists have developed consists of dividing large molecules into smaller, more manageable groups. The strategy these scientists have developed is to divide large molecules into smaller, more manageable groups. Classical supercomputers solve the simpler regions, while quantum systems address the more complex and computationally demanding parts. The results are then recombined to obtain a global image of the molecule. To carry out this simulation, the researchers introduced improvements in both classical and quantum techniques. However, one of the most important innovations they have developed is the improvement of the way in which the system identifies which parts of a molecule require detailed quantum treatment, which reduces the overall computational cost. As we have just seen, we are facing a very important milestone, although we need to put it in context. And, despite its value, the strategy that these researchers have developed still does not surpass the best classical approaches. However, it demonstrates that quantum systems can already contribute to the resolution of significant scientific problems, especially when integrated with existing computing infrastructure. Image | IBM More information | Interesting Engineering In Xataka | Beyond AI, US semiconductor manufacturers face the real battle of the future: quantum chips

that of quantum chips

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Manufacture a qubit, the physical device that implements the minimum unit of information in the quantum computersit is not at all a piece of cake. There are several types: superconductors, ion traps, neutral atoms or ions implanted in macromolecules, among other variants. Not all of them are equally complex, but until just two years ago it was not possible to manufacture any of these qubits in an industrialized way that opened the door to large-scale production. This scenario changed in March 2024. Intel and QuTech, the research institute specialized in quantum computing that belongs to the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands, they managed to manufacture for the first time a qubit in an industrial way, and, what is even more important, using the same processes and the same technology that is currently used to manufacture semiconductors. It was a very important milestone for a crucial reason: this innovation opened the door to the massive scaling of qubits that can be integrated into a quantum computer. Now GlobalFoundries has decided to follow in Intel’s footsteps. Semiconductors open the door to universal quantum computers The qubit that Intel and QuTech researchers managed to manufacture using industrial procedures is, as we can guess, a semiconductor qubit. The most obvious advantage of this type of qubit is that it benefits from the development that integrated circuit production technology has undergone for decades, so it is presumably easier to produce a semiconductor qubit than one that uses an ion trap or a neutral atom. Furthermore, it is evident that Intel is well versed in the processes involved in chip manufacturing. Quantum Motion has recently opened an office in San Sebastián “It’s kind of like we started writing with calligraphy and suddenly switched to using a printer.” This statement belongs to Anne-Marije Zwerver, the QuTech researcher who led this project, and emphasizes the possibility of using this technology to manufacture semiconductor qubits on a large scale. Furthermore, according to Intel, the performance they have achieved using this manufacturing process is 98%. This simply means that 98 out of every 100 semiconductor qubits produced with this technology work correctly. GlobalFoundries has embarked in a project very similar to that of Intel, although it has not done it alone; It has done so with Quantum Motion, an emerging company specialized in the development of semiconductor quantum bits. An interesting note: this last company has recently opened an office in San Sebastián (Spain). Their plan is to demonstrate that it is possible to manufacture qubits using CMOS technology, which is commonly used in the integrated circuit industry. However, GlobalFoundries’ strategy goes further: it wants to adapt its 12 and 22 nm nodes to the manufacturing of quantum chips without having to reorganize its plants from scratch. An interesting note: the materials used by Intel to manufacture its semiconductor qubits are similar to those currently used to produce transistors, such as silicon oxide. However, everything is not done yet. Intel and QuTech have demonstrated that it is possible to manufacture semiconductor qubits using industrial processes, but now need to refine and improve the quality of its multi-qubit spin control system. Whatever they have achieved, it is very important and invites us to look once again towards the future of quantum computers with optimism. Image | Intel More information | GlobalFoundries In Xataka | They are called giant super atoms and they are going to be crucial for something: the future of universal quantum computers

Universal quantum computers promise to change the world. Now they are closer thanks to giant super atoms

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The prototypes of quantum computers currently manufactured by IBM, Honeywell or Google, among other companies, are engineering prodigies. However, they have defectswhich currently greatly limits the range of applications in which it is possible to use them. The most important of all of them is that they make mistakes and they are still not able to correct them effectively. Scientists are working on developing advanced error correction systems, and if they achieve their goal, universal quantum computers capable of dealing with a wide range of problems will arrive. The Achilles heel of current quantum machines is the extreme fragility of their qubits. And they are very sensitive to disturbances from the environment. Their interaction with the space around them can cause quantum information to be lost or altered, preventing them from delivering a correct result. This phenomenon is known as quantum decoherence and it has the ability to degrade the quantum states that need to be protected in order to carry out operations with qubits. Currently, researchers are making an enormous effort to design effective strategies for isolating qubits from the environment. However, efforts are also being made to develop less fragile qubits, and therefore less sensitive to noise. This is the plan that several scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are working on. And they have developed a completely new quantum system designed to protect quantum information and minimize interference from the environment. Its purpose is, neither more nor less, to pave the way for universal quantum computers or large scale. Less decoherence leads to more robust and higher quality quantum computers Quantum computing experts maintain that quantum computers that will have the ability to correct their own errors can be used to design exotic materials, and probably also to develop new drugs and in industrial optimization problems, among other tasks. These are some of the applications that the qubits implemented with giant superatoms proposed by the Chalmers University of Technology team led by applied quantum physics professor Anton Frisk Kockum could put in our hands. Giant Superatoms explore two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Giant Super Atoms explores two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Unlike isolated atoms, a giant atom in this context is an artificial qubit designed to interact with its environment using light or sound waves at multiple physically separated points. This peculiarity allows them to protect quantum states more effectively than conventional systems, reduce decoherence and remember past interactions. The problem with using giant atoms in quantum computers is that they have significant limitations when trying to entangle them. Entanglement is essential in quantum computing because it allows multiple qubits to share a single quantum state and act as a coordinated system. To solve this limitation, the Chalmers researchers have combined giant atoms and superatoms. A superatom is made up of several natural atoms that share the same quantum state and behave collectively as a single larger atom. Lei Du, one of Chalmers’ researchers, explains to us what is a giant super atom: “We can observe it as multiple giant atoms working together as a single entity, allowing them to exhibit a non-local interaction between light and matter. This allows quantum information from multiple qubits stored and controlled as a unit and without the need for increasingly complex surrounding circuits.” For the moment, giant superatoms are a theoretical proposal, but Professor Anton Frisk Kockum and his team are going to try to build a quantum system using them. If they succeed, they could have found a new type of qubit that is much more robust, and, therefore, suitable for use in the development of universal quantum computers. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | ScienceDaily In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

Quantum computers are going to overthrow classical cryptography sooner than expected

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Just two weeks ago a group of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of California at Berkeley and the emerging company Oratomic published a scientific article preliminary in which they explore the capabilities of quantum computers of neutral atoms. These machines are an alternative to quantum computers with superconducting qubits and ion traps, and are still in an experimental phase. However, these scientists have estimated that Shor’s algorithm can be implemented using a quantum computer equipped with between 10,000 and 20,000 qubits of neutral atoms. In fact, in their article they even propose a design with which in theory it would be possible break bitcoin encryption in a few days using 26,000 qubits of neutral atoms. In any case, these researchers are not the only ones who in recent weeks have alerted us to the ability to violate classical cryptography that quantum computers will acquire in a relatively short period of time. At the end of last March, Google’s quantum artificial intelligence group published a study in which he demonstrates that the elliptic curve encryption used by Bitcoin or Ethereum, among other cryptocurrencies, can be overthrown using far fewer resources than initially estimated. According to these researchers, a quantum computer with less than half a million physical qubits will be able to decipher the algorithms used by current cryptocurrencies in a few minutes. In short, the scientific community has agreed that classical encryption technologies will be vulnerable before the arrival of large-scale quantum hardware. The first steps to protect ourselves have already been taken Quantum computing experts have known for several years that quantum computers they will end classical cryptography. That moment came in May 2024. A team of researchers from the University of Shanghai (China) led by Professor Wang Chao used a D-Wave quantum computer to successfully break SPN encryption (Substitution-Permutation Network), which is a cryptographic algorithm used to encrypt information. This encryption is the cornerstone of, for example, the AES standard (Advanced Encryption Standard), which is used a lot. These scientists published the results of their research in an interesting article titled “Quantum Processing-Based Public Key Cryptographic Attack Algorithm with the D-Wave Advantage.” However, this is not all. And in mid-May 2025, several Google researchers posted an entry in the blog dedicated to the security of this American company in which they maintain a crucial premise: an RSA integer (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) 2,048 bits can be factored in less than a week with a quantum computer of less than a million qubits. A 2,048-bit RSA integer can be factored in less than a week with a quantum computer of less than a million qubits Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and the other modern cryptocurrencies use a cryptography technique known as elliptic curve that is more robust, efficient and difficult to break than RSA, but its mathematical foundations are similar to those of the latter encryption algorithm. In fact, according to the Google scientists who authored the article I mentioned above, if future quantum computers will have a harder time breaking RSA encryption than initially expected, elliptic curve cryptography will also fall relatively easily. So far we have talked about cryptocurrencies, but it is crucial that we do not overlook that encryption technologies play a fundamental role in our daily lives. In fact, WhatsApp and Telegram use them to encrypt our messages; banks turn to them to protect our transactions and every time we buy something on the internet it is encryption that is responsible for protecting our credit card information. These are just some of the applications of this technology. The threat of quantum computers to encryption technologies is very real, but we have no reason to panic because many researchers have been working on the solution to this challenge for several years. In fact, most of the theoretical work has already been done. In 2024, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published an initial set of standards that includes a post-quantum key exchange mechanism and several post-quantum digital signature schemes. The work that has already been done invites us to foresee that the moment relevant quantum computers appear from a cryptographic point of view, the technologies that will be able to protect our information will already be ready. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | arXiv | Google In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

It takes 7,000 GPUs to simulate a tiny quantum processor. Although it may not seem like it, it is excellent news.

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The complexity of quantum computers It is extraordinary. In their construction it is possible to rely on several very different strategies, such as, for example, superconducting qubits, ion traps or neutral atoms, among other technologies, but they all have something in common: to a large extent its power is a consequence of its complexity. Of the complexity inherent in any device designed to take advantage the laws of quantum physics. The surprising thing is that, despite its sophistication and exoticism, it is already possible to accurately simulate a small quantum processor using conventional hardware. In fact, has achieved it a research group from the Quantum Systems Accelerator and the Division of Applied Mathematics and Computational Research at the University of California at Berkeley (USA). This is not the first time that a quantum processor has been simulated, but until now no one had managed to do it by emulating every physical detail before its manufacture. A new era begins in quantum chip design Here’s a shocking fact: the Berkeley researchers I mentioned in the previous paragraph have carried out their simulation of a quantum chip using the Perlmutter supercomputer, which contains 7,168 NVIDIA GPUs. To achieve their purpose, they used almost all of these GPUs for 24 uninterrupted hours, so it is evident that the computational effort was titanic. But they got it. They managed to model a multilayer quantum chip 10 mm wide and 0.3 mm thick, accurately simulating how signals travel and interact within this processor. This statement from Andy Nonaka, one of the scientists at the Berkeley Quantum Systems Accelerator, express clearly Why this milestone is so important: “I am not aware of anyone who has ever performed physical modeling of microelectronic circuits at the full scale of the Perlmutter system.” “I’m not aware of anyone having ever done physical modeling of microelectronic circuits at the full scale of the Perlmutter system. We were using almost 7,000 GPUs (…) We divided the chip into 11 billion grid cells and were able to run over a million time steps in seven hours, allowing us to evaluate three circuit configurations in a single day. These simulations would not have been possible in this time frame without the complete system” What really what makes the difference is precision with which they have managed to carry out the design and simulation of their quantum processor. “We perform a full-wave physics-level simulation, which means we care about what material is used in the chip, its design, how the metal is wired (using niobium or other types of metal wires), how the resonators are built, what the size, shape and material used are (…) We care about those physical details and we include them in our model,” Nonaka says. A priori we can conclude that using almost 7,000 GPUs for 24 hours with the computational effort and energy expenditure involved in this process to simulate a quantum chip just 10 mm wide and 0.3 mm thick is not a success. But yes it is. Thanks to this technology, it will now be possible to design quantum hardware in less time and in a more efficient way. Bert de Jong, director of the Berkeley Quantum Systems Accelerator, invites us to look towards the future of quantum computing with optimism: “This unprecedented simulation is a critical step in accelerating the design and development of quantum hardware. More powerful, higher-performance chips will unlock new capabilities for researchers and open new avenues in science” Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | ScienceDaily In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

Google sets a date for “Q-Day”, when quantum computing will be able to break current cryptography sooner than expected

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The arrival of the quantum computing brings us closer to an exciting horizon. It is a paradigm shift because, if classical computing is based on bits of 0 and 1, quantum computing uses qubits that can be in both states at the same time. Translation: if classical computing does operations one at a time, quantum computing does many at the same time. This opens up an ocean of possibilities, and will also allow any current encryption system to be broken. in a matter of seconds. Google has been around for a decade getting readyand has set a date for his arrival. 2029. PQC. It stands for post-quantum cryptography. It is a set of encryption algorithms designed to resist attacks by quantum computers and allow data that must be encrypted such as keys and digital signatures to remain so in the long term. Those complex mathematical algorithms designed to resist quantum attacks are designed to be implemented on classical computers. That is, it is not the hardware that is updated, but rather the security. Quantum cryptography is another approach, but also more experimental. It is the one that will use the full potential of quantum computing to achieve theoretically unbreakable security. The one that interests us at the moment is post-quantum, and it makes perfect sense because classical and the quantum They will coexist, and what is needed is to update encryption systems so that companies continue to have classic computers, but with security that resists quantum attacks. Q-Day. Companies have been preparing for this for a long time and, as we say, Google is one of them. Carry from 2016 investing in that post-quantum cryptography, migrating some key exchange systems for internal traffic to the post-quantum standard. A while ago they claimed that key exchange within Google services is now resistant to quantum computing by default. Proton also is in it. So as not to leave it there as a pending task that is never finished, they finish to mark a self-imposed deadline to complete the transition. By 2029 they will have to complete this migration of their security to PQC systems. In fact, on their blog, they have announced that Android 17 will integrate an algorithm that will provide quantum-resistant signatures to protect the integrity of boot software. It is a way of saying “hey, we are already preparing,” but basically what there is is a commitment to that security for a time that is near. And it won’t just be the boot system: applications will be able to generate and verify post-quantum signatures within the devices’ secure hardware, and Google Play itself will also begin generating secure keys for applications that choose to participate in the program during the launch cycle of the new system. The industry prepares. Aside from the announcement, the company urged the rest of the technology industry and governments to step up to accelerate the adoption of these more resistant encryption systems. And, although Google has been saying “the wolf is coming” for several years, they are not the only ones. Microsoft wants to start migrating its systems by 2029, culminating in 2033. US federal agencies also want do it for the 2030-2035 window and the European Commission has urged member states to make critical infrastructure resilient by the end of 2030. With this movement, Google has set a date that seems ambitious and is a declaration of intentions. “It is our responsibility to set an example and share an ambitious schedule,” says Google. It is also evident that as a digital infrastructure provider, offering a post-quantum security system before anyone else gives you a competitive advantage because if someone doesn’t arrive on time, they could always buy your services. Companies like Telefónica are also working on it, but when we talk to them They did not give us an indicative date. What they did comment is that they are beginning to see that there are parts of the industry that are becoming interested in their post-quantum cryptography services. Don’t panic. that the arrival of quantum computing represents a headache for everything that is encrypted (blockchain and cryptocurrencies, banking data and transactions and even messaging apps) does not mean that we have to panic. A few months ago, Keith Martin, professor in the Information Security Group at the University of London, commented that, although the threat is realresearchers have been working for years and most of the theoretical work is done. When cryptographically relevant quantum computers appear, the protection technologies will already be ready and we will not have to worry about anything. In fact, at the user level… we can do little. We are not going to be the ones who have a quantum computer at home to be able to encrypt our information. Basically, as I said a few lines ago, it is Google saying “get ready because this is going to come and, as an industry, we have to prepare.” And they have already set a date. There’s not much left… Image | Xataka In Xataka | Putin compared the quantum race to the nuclear race of the Cold War. China has just taken a leap in that war of the future

It already has quantum weapons that it is testing in real missions

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The research, weapons and defense departments of the main powers are a black hole. We cannot know what is on the other side, unless we They are the ones who allow us to take a look. It makes sense, since announcing a technology hastily would alert the rival. In this context, China has just taken a step in the war of the future: quantum war. We are very used to talking about traditional computing, and that of cyberwar It is an easy concept to understand. Hacker attacks on critical enemy systemsforms of make your troops invisible to rival radars or cyberespionage are concepts that have become everyday in current conflicts. And the future lies in quantum weapons. The quantum computing It’s not an incremental improvement in a computer’s processing speed: it’s a breakthrough. It is a paradigm shift and that is why researchers are developing these quantum computers which, in essence, allow solve complex operations in much less time than a classic computer. It is not easy, since although important steps have been taken in recent years, it still has challenges to solve so that your results are optimal. In a war and security context, and in a nutshell, this translates into one thing: if it takes a conventional computer hours or days to breach an enemy’s security, a quantum computer It would take minutes or seconds. And China not only says They are not only developing a dozen quantum warfare tools, but are already testing them in combat. “To design a good weapon, you have to think about what the war of the future will be like” As they point out in South China Morning Postthe People’s Liberation Army confirmed through the official newspaper Science and Technology Daily that they have more than ten experimental quantum cyber warfare tools in development. As we say, some of them are being “tested in frontline missions”, ‘capturing’ intelligence that can be used in the future. This is a project led by the National University of Defense Technology and, according to the report, focuses on three areas: Cloud computing. Artificial intelligence. Quantum technology. The fact that they are already testing some of these systems implies that they have left the theoretical framework, and the Army points out that “speed” is the main advantage that these tools offer. It is not just about making smarter weapons, but about giving more tools to those who analyze the situation. For example, quantum computing allows process large amounts of battlefield data in a matter of seconds. This implies that analysts can help make decisions practically in real time. They can also help in terms of both cybersecurity and cyberespionage, better protecting themselves with artificial intelligence systems that rewrite their code in real time – something we already see with malware such as PromtLock– or busting enemy crypto security faster. Related to this, they can help make GPS navigation systems more resistant to jamming or spoofing attacks. Or even perform navigation and positioning based on quantum sensors without depending on vulnerable infrastructure such as GPS or Starlink. It looks kind of steampunk, but this is part of a quantum computer Really, the applications seem limitless when we consider what has already been achieved with classical computing. These technologies also have potential to improve defenses aerial and detection of stealth aircraft, something in which United States with its F-35 and China with its J-36 They are investing a fortune. As they have commented in the magazine, the development of this technology responds to the need to think “what the war of the future will be like”, and how the war in Ukraine and Russian cyberattacks are showing uscyberwar will be the protagonist. They are, in short, tools that allow a conflict to end before the rival knows that it has started. It is the same philosophy that led to the development of the American F-35 fighter and a form of asymmetric warfare. Ok, very good, but what time advantage are we talking about? An example is the Google Sycamorea quantum computer that performed a calculation that would have taken a classical supercomputer 10,000 years in just… 200 seconds. In 2020, China already complete in another 200 seconds an operation that would have taken a supercomputer more than 2.5 billion years. Are they the only ones? Not even close. For Putin, the race for quantum computing is like the nuclear race after the end of World War II If there are hackers with a good reputation, they are the Russians, and the country is already testing prototypes such as quantum supercomputers Lomonosov Moscow State University with 72 qubits and another 70 qubits of the Lebedev Institute. Europe is also immersed in the era of the ‘Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography’ in matters of defense of critical infrastructure (energy, finance, health or telecommunications) with the objective of having operational systems by 2030. Japan is also in itand the United States has high the budget for research and development of quantum systems from 141,000 million in 2024 to more than 179,000 million dollars (part of a total of almost a billion engaged for general defense). They have an advantage: IBM and Google are leaders in quantum systems maturitybut China is estimated to be closing the gap. And they must be confident in the possibilities of their systems if they already talk about them openly. CCTV images (via X), In Xataka | China has achieved something hard to believe: reducing the production of laser weapons and parts for electric cars to one second

give a twist to Quantum Dots

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TCL has been one of the leading proponents of democratization of MiniLED panelstechnology that it has carried to its entire range from 2025. Therefore, it has not surprised anyone that in 2026 it maintains its commitment to this technology. However, your proposal is different from Samsung either Hisense that are committed to changing the backlight matrix with Micro LED RGB systems. TCL has presented at CES 2026 a new technology called SQD-MiniLED that promises to change the landscape of high-end televisions. The proposal consists of combining the Mini blue LEDs with improved quantum dots to maintain brightness. that Mini LED screens provideapproaching the color purity of OLEDs. SQD-MiniLED: Vitaminized Quantum Dots by TCL TCL’s new technology focuses on the quantum dot filter responsible for breaking down and filtering the white or blue light emitted by the MiniLED diode array. The SQD that has been added to the name of this technology refers to Super Quantum Dot (or super quantum dots), the filter that contains the Super QLED Crystalswhich represent an evolution in the performance of the QD filters used in their televisions today. As the brand explained, the improvement in color volume of this technology is notable. Conventional MiniLED televisions reach approximately 83% of the BT.2020 color space, while the new X11L SQD, the only TCL television that will mount this new system, promises cover 100% of BT.2020. That means purer colors and a more complete visual palette. In addition, the new light filter is complemented by a new UltraColor filter with ultrafine particles (5 nanometers) that carries out a second filtering pixel by pixel, thus avoiding color interference and reducing the effect blooming (that halo that appears around bright objects on dark backgrounds, like subtitles). More dimming zones, more light control However, the development of the SQD filter for MiniLED is not the only improvement that TCL proposes to improve the image quality of its future televisions. Most high-end MiniLEDs offer between 1,000 and 5,000 local dimming zones, which is not bad at all. The X11L SQD, on the other hand, multiplies that figure up to 20,736 dimming zones for the 98 inch model. This increase is also supported by a 26-bit backlight controller capable of managing millions of control points, what TCL calls Precise Dimming Series. This combination is important because more dimming zones mean tighter control over which parts of the screen should brighten and which should remain dark. When you view a scene with stars against a night sky, that granular control allows the stars to shine without the glare spreading to dark areas. This is what allows us to combine deep blacks similar to those of an OLED, with peaks of extremely high brightness. The X11L SQD that TCL has presented as a test table for its latest technologies reaches the 10,000 nits maximum brightnessthe upper limit allowed by the Dolby Vision HDR standard. The combination of 20,736 dimming zones, together with 10,000 nits of brightness and 100% BT.2020 coverage, results in blacks controlled with extreme precision and a wider color volume than those currently offered by conventional MiniLED televisions. However, improving the panel’s performance does not imply an improvement in itself if that improvement is not well managed. Hence TCL has developed the new TSR AI processor with Super Resolution to manage the new capabilities of your SQD Mini LED panel by applying AI algorithms. The TCL will arrive soon to the United States and will start at $6,999 for the 75-inch models, increasing to $7,999 for the 85-inch version and $9,999 for the 98-inch ones. The brand has not confirmed its arrival in Europe and Spain, nor its price for the old continent. In Xataka | The television market is more alive than ever: Chinese manufacturers are eating up historical brands Image | TCL

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