Microsoft today introduced Majorana 1 the world’s first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture that it expects will realize quantum computers capable of solving meaningful It leverages the world’s first topoconductor a breakthrough type of material which can observe and control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits which are the building blocks for quantum computers In the same way that the invention of semiconductors made today’s smartphones, computers and electronics possible, topoconductors and the new type of chip they enable offer a path to developing quantum systems that can scale to a million qubits and are capable of tackling the most complex industrial and societal problems let’s invent the transistor for the quantum age What properties does it need to have?’” said Chetan Nayak “And that’s really how we got here – it’s the particular combination the quality and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture.” This new architecture used to develop the Majorana 1 processor offers a clear path to fit a million qubits on a single chip that can fit in the palm of one’s hand This is a needed threshold for quantum computers to deliver transformative real-world solutions – such as breaking down microplastics into harmless byproducts or inventing self-healing materials for construction All the world’s current computers operating together can’t do what a one-million-qubit quantum computer will be able to do.  “Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us,” Nayak said.  “We have actually worked out a path to a million.” is a special category of material that can create an entirely new state of matter – not a solid This is harnessed to produce a more stable qubit that is fast without the tradeoffs required by current alternatives A new paper published Wednesday in Nature outlines how Microsoft researchers were able to create the topological qubit’s exotic quantum properties and also accurately measure them This breakthrough required developing an entirely new materials stack made of indium arsenide and aluminum much of which Microsoft designed and fabricated atom by atom The goal was to coax new quantum particles called Majoranas into existence and take advantage of their unique properties to reach the next horizon of quantum computing The world’s first Topological Core powering the Majorana 1 is reliable by design incorporating error resistance at the hardware level making it more stable Commercially important applications will also require trillions of operations on a million qubits which would be prohibitive with current approaches that rely on fine-tuned analog control of each qubit The Microsoft team’s new measurement approach enables qubits to be controlled digitally redefining and vastly simplifying how quantum computing works This progress validates Microsoft’s choice years ago to pursue a topological qubit design – a high risk high reward scientific and engineering challenge that is now paying off the company has placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to scale to one million “From the start we wanted to make a quantum computer for commercial impact not just thought leadership,” said Matthias Troyer That approach led the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) a federal agency that invests in breakthrough technologies that are important to national security to include Microsoft in a rigorous program to evaluate whether innovative quantum computing technologies could build commercially relevant quantum systems faster than conventionally believed possible.   Microsoft is now one of two companies to be invited to move to the final phase of DARPA’s Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program – one of the programs that makes up DARPA’s larger Quantum Benchmarking Initiative – which aims to deliver the industry’s first utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer or one whose computational value exceeds its costs.  high performance computing and quantum platforms in Azure to advance scientific discovery But reaching the next horizon of quantum computing will require a quantum architecture that can provide a million qubits or more and reach trillions of fast and reliable operations Today’s announcement puts that horizon within years Because they can use quantum mechanics to mathematically map how nature behaves with incredible precision – from chemical reactions to molecular interactions and enzyme energies – million-qubit machines should be able to solve certain types of problems in chemistry materials science and other industries that are impossible for today’s classical computers to accurately calculate companies and others to simply design things right the first time – which would be transformative for everything from healthcare to product development would allow someone to describe what kind of new material or molecule they want to create in plain language and get an answer that works straightaway – no guesswork or years of trial and error “Any company that makes anything could just design it perfectly the first time out It would just give you the answer,” Troyer said “The quantum computer teaches the AI the language of nature so the AI can just tell you the recipe for what you want to make.” The quantum world operates according to the laws of quantum mechanics which are not the same laws of physics that govern the world we see Qubits are finicky and highly susceptible to perturbations and errors that come from their environment which cause them to fall apart and information to be lost Their state can also be affected by measurement – a problem because measuring is essential for computing An inherent challenge is developing a qubit that can be measured and controlled while offering protection from environmental noise that corrupts them Microsoft decided to pursue a unique approach: developing topological qubits which it believed would offer more stable qubits requiring less error correction requiring uncharted scientific and engineering breakthroughs but also the most promising path to creating scalable and controllable qubits capable of doing commercially valuable work The disadvantage is – or was – that until recently the exotic particles Microsoft sought to use They don’t exist in nature and can only be coaxed into existence with magnetic fields and superconductors The difficulty of developing the right materials to create the exotic particles and their associated topological state of matter is why most quantum efforts have focused on other kinds of qubits The Nature paper marks peer-reviewed confirmation that Microsoft has not only been able to create Majorana particles which help protect quantum information from random disturbance but can also reliably measure that information from them using microwaves The Microsoft team’s new measurement approach is so precise it can detect the difference between one billion and one billion and one electrons in a superconducting wire – which tells the computer what state the qubit is in and forms the basis for quantum computation The measurements can be turned on and off with voltage pulses rather than finetuning dials for each individual qubit This simpler measurement approach that enables digital control simplifies the quantum computing process and the physical requirements to build a scalable machine Microsoft’s topological qubit also has an advantage over other qubits because of its size where a too-small qubit is hard to run control lines to but a too-big qubit requires a huge machine Adding the individualized control technology for those types of qubits would require building an impractical computer the size of an airplane hangar or football field Microsoft’s quantum chip that contains both qubits as well as surrounding control electronics can be held in the palm of one’s hand and fits neatly into a quantum computer that can be easily deployed inside Azure datacenters “It’s one thing to discover a new state of matter,” Nayak said “It’s another to take advantage of it to rethink quantum computing at scale.” Microsoft’s topological qubit architecture has aluminum nanowires joined together to form an H Each H has four controllable Majoranas and makes one qubit and laid out across the chip like so many tiles “It’s complex in that we had to show a new state of matter to get there You have this much simpler architecture that promises a much faster path to scale,” said Krysta Svore It exists in an ecosystem with control logic a dilution refrigerator that keeps qubits at temperatures much colder than outer space and a software stack that can integrate with AI and classical computers continuing to refine those processes and getting all the elements to work together at accelerated scale will require more years of engineering work But many difficult scientific and engineering challenges have now been met Getting the materials stack right to produce a topological state of matter was one of the hardest parts Microsoft’s topoconductor is made of indium arsenide a material currently used in such applications as infrared detectors and which has special properties The semiconductor is married with superconductivity If there are too many defects in the material stack it’s also why we need a quantum computer – because understanding these materials is incredibly hard we will be able to predict materials with even better properties for building the next generation of quantum computers beyond scale,” she said Learn more: Introducing Microsoft Majorana 1 Read more: Microsoft unveils Majorana 1, the world’s first quantum processor powered by topological qubits Learn more: Microsoft’s Quantum Ready program Learn more: Azure Quantum Solutions   Read more: In a historic milestone, Azure Quantum demonstrates formerly elusive physics needed to build scalable topological qubits Read more: Nature: Interferometric Single-Shot Parity Measurement in InAs-Al Hybrid Devices Read more: arXiv: Roadmap to fault tolerant quantum computation using topological qubit arrays the first quantum chip powered by a Topological Core based on a revolutionary new class of materials developed by Microsoft Photo by John Brecher for Microsoft.  according to Microsoft’s quantum research team Microsoft believes quantum computers can solve industrial-scale problems within years it is the “world’s first” quantum processing unit (QPU) powered by a Topological Core – a new type of chip which can potentially scale to a million qubits Yesterday’s (19 February) announcement builds on the company’s recent breakthrough on the “world’s first topoconductor” a special type of material combining a semiconductor and a superconductor which can control Majorana particles to produce more reliable and scalable qubits – the building blocks for quantum computers Majorana particles were first described by theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937 “It’s the particular combination the quality and the important details in our new materials stack that have enabled a new kind of qubit and ultimately our entire architecture,” said Chetan Nayak “It is entirely a new state of matter,” explained Zulfi Alam “In a regular chip the computing is done by electrons – we don’t use electrons for computing – we use Majoranas for computing.” “Whatever you’re doing in the quantum space needs to have a path to a million qubits you’re going to hit a wall before you get to the scale at which you can solve the really important problems that motivate us,” Nayak said. “We have actually worked out a path to a million.” While Alam said: “Our leadership has been working on this program for the last 17 years It’s the longest-running research program in the company,” we are showcasing results that are not just incredible They will fundamentally redefine how the next stage of the quantum journey takes place.” Last year, a research team based at the University of Manchester created a new ultra-pure form of the element silicon which could help scientists create more stable qubits to help advance quantum computing Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news editorial@siliconrepublic.com Built with a breakthrough class of materials called a topoconductor Majorana 1 marks a transformative leap toward practical quantum computing Quantum computers promise to transform science and society—but only after they achieve the scale that once seemed distant and elusive and their reliability is ensured by quantum error correction we’re announcing rapid advancements on the path to useful quantum computing: these milestones mark a pivotal moment in quantum computing as we advance from scientific exploration to technological innovation Join Chetan Nayak to learn about the advancements Microsoft is making in quantum computing All of today’s announcements build on our team’s recent breakthrough: the world’s first topoconductor. This revolutionary class of materials enables us to create topological superconductivity, a new state of matter that previously existed only in theory The advance stems from Microsoft’s innovations in the design and fabrication of gate-defined devices that combine indium arsenide (a semiconductor) and aluminum (a superconductor) When cooled to near absolute zero and tuned with magnetic fields these devices form topological superconducting nanowires with Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at the wires’ ends For nearly a century, these quasiparticles existed only in textbooks. Now, we can create and control them on demand in our topoconductors MZMs are the building blocks of our qubits storing quantum information through ‘parity’—whether the wire contains an even or odd number of electrons electrons bind into Cooper pairs and move without resistance Any unpaired electron can be detected because its presence requires extra energy an unpaired electron is shared between a pair of MZMs This unique property protects the quantum information While this makes our topoconductors ideal candidates for qubits it also presents a challenge: How do we read quantum information that is so well hidden Our solution to this measurement challenge works as follows (also see Figure 1): We designed our devices so these changes are large enough to measure reliably in a single shot Our initial measurements had an error probability of 1% and we’ve identified clear paths to significantly reduce this External energy—such as electromagnetic radiation—can break Cooper pairs creating unpaired electrons that can flip the qubit’s state from even to odd parity occurring only once per millisecond on average This indicates that the shielding that envelops our processor is effective at keeping such radiation out We are exploring ways to reduce this even further It’s perhaps not surprising that quantum computation would require us to engineer a new state of matter specifically designed to enable it What’s remarkable is how accurate our readout technique already is demonstrating that we are harnessing this exotic state of matter for quantum computation This readout technique enables a fundamentally different approach to quantum computing in which measurements are used to perform calculations Traditional quantum computing rotates quantum states through precise angles requiring complex analog control signals customized for each qubit This complicates quantum error correction (QEC) which must rely on these same sensitive operations to detect and correct errors Our measurement-based approach simplifies QEC dramatically We perform error correction entirely through measurements activated by simple digital pulses that connect and disconnect quantum dots from nanowires This digital control makes it practical to manage the large numbers of qubits needed for real-world applications With the core building blocks now demonstrated—quantum information encoded in MZMs and processed through measurements—we’re ready to move from physics breakthrough to practical implementation Another key operation puts the qubit in a superposition of parity states is performed by a microwave reflectometry measurement of a quantum dot but in a different measurement configuration in which we decouple the first quantum dot from the nanowire and connect a different dot to both nanowires at one end of the device By performing these two orthogonal Pauli measurements we’ve demonstrated measurement-based control—a crucial milestone that unlocks the next steps on our roadmap Our roadmap now leads systematically toward scalable QEC The next steps will involve a 4×2 tetron array We will first use a two-qubit subset to demonstrate entanglement and measurement-based braiding transformations we will then implement quantum error detection on two logical qubits This dramatic reduction means that our scalable system can be built from fewer physical qubits and has the potential to run at a faster clock speed Microsoft views this recognition as validation of our roadmap for building a fault-tolerant quantum computer with topological qubits DARPA’s US2QC program and its broader Quantum Benchmarking Initiative represent a rigorous approach to evaluating quantum systems that could solve problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers the US2QC program has brought together experts from DARPA Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center to verify quantum hardware the larger Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is expected to engage with even more experts in the testing and evaluation of quantum computers DARPA selected Microsoft for an earlier phase upon an assessment that we could plausibly build a utility-scale quantum computer in a reasonable timeframe DARPA then evaluated the Microsoft quantum team’s architectural designs and engineering plan for a fault-tolerant quantum computer DARPA and Microsoft have executed an agreement to begin the final phase of the program Microsoft intends to build a fault-tolerant prototype based on topological qubits in years not decades—a crucial acceleration step toward utility-scale quantum computing Eighteen months ago, we laid out our roadmap to a quantum supercomputer demonstrating the world’s first topological qubit And we’ve already placed eight topological qubits on a chip designed to house one million A million-qubit quantum computer isn’t just a milestone—it’s a gateway to solving some of the world’s most difficult problems Even today’s most powerful supercomputers cannot accurately predict the quantum processes that determine the properties of the materials essential to our future But quantum computing at this scale could lead to innovations like self-healing materials that repair cracks in bridges What today requires billions of dollars in exhaustive experimental searches and wet-lab experiments could be found Our path to useful quantum computing is clear and we believe our architecture is scalable Our new agreement with DARPA shows a commitment to relentless progress toward our goal: building a machine that can drive scientific discovery and solve problems that matter Stay tuned for more updates on our journey Stay informed of Microsoft’s advancements in quantum computing: Start building impactful quantum chemistry and materials science applications today Paper Backing Microsoft’s Quantum Technology to be Retracted Microsoft never shied away from its topological system as a long-shot bet in the quantum hardware horse race. Majorana fermions are often referred to as ghostly for a reason — they are long-theorized but never seen which may be able to be their own antiparticles were thought to have considerable utility as quantum bits or “qubits,” which are the building blocks of quantum computers Majorana-based quantum computers’ projected benefits included the promotion of long-lasting quantum states and high fidelity The quick rollout of these devices never materialized team researchers began to have questions about the original paper the original team recently released a data release that suggested that the skeptics were right evidence for the Majorana particle disappeared In addition to Microsoft’s business setback was considered a “holy grail” moment by scientists The paper in Nature was considered a major scientific advance and scientists had particularly hoped that it could lead to further discoveries in astrophysics and a better understanding of quantum mechanics The setback obviously limits Microsoft’s full stack quantum hardware options The team could still pursue a Majorana-based system although a quantum computer using Majorana particles is theoretically possible that type of computer “may be 30 years away.” Most quantum computing experts would suggest that 30 years would be Acquiring a quantum hardware company is an option to leap back into the competition In a market where quantum devices are going to be large and expensive — at least in the short term — getting a cloud proposition right will be paramount as the wider quantum technology ecosystem evolves It also offers a clearer road to short-term profitability – the unit economics of developing and selling full-stack quantum systems is still being debated (with venture capitalists encouraging companies to avoid lumpy one-off revenues in favor of recurring subscription revenue) – the cloud path is now well trodden and understood in comparison Microsoft competes with Amazon’s Braket offering which is emerging onto the quantum technology scene but this scientific shake-up could spark moves in Microsoft and across the quantum industry the exit of Majorana as one of the contenders for quantum computation will most likely have a ripple effect on the hardware providers that are still working towards quantum advantage and quantum supremacy First, the aforementioned ion-trap providers, along with superconducting qubits, photonics, neutral atoms, silicon-based and annealing, are still in the race. You can see some of these implementations here after seeing how risky quantum actually is investors may move out of quantum altogether funders edge toward more established quantum technologies Azure’s own backing of ion trap-startups could trigger a tipping of the scale toward these systems there could be implications for the quantum software space With the attention moving from hardware to software Microsoft may focus more money and attention there partner and/or acquire to be a bigger quantum software player If you found this article to be informative, you can explore more current quantum news here Keep track of everything going on in the Quantum Technology Market One of our team will be in touch to learn more about your requirements You have successfully joined our subscriber list Subscribe to our industry leading leading newsletter for the latest in quantum news and insights Corem has signed a six-year lease agreement with the Swedish Coast Guard for 3,557 square meters in the property Majorna 219:7 in Gothenburg The premises will accommodate the Swedish Coast Guard's Gothenburg office with workplaces for approximately 90 employees Move-in is planned for the second quarter of 2026 "It is gratifying that the Swedish Coast Guard has chosen to establish its new office here the Swedish Coast Guard contributes positively to strengthening Majorna and to the future development in the area we will now make adjustments to the premises," said Anna Lidhagen-Ohlsén The lease to the Swedish Coast Guard is the latest in a series of leases that have been agreed in the Majorna 219:7 property in recent months it was announced that 3D-printing operator Freemelt will be moving there "In a short time we have signed agreements with two very strong players in the property This shows a well-functioning office rental market and that Corem can offer competitive premises," said Anna Lidhagen-Ohlsén the leasing efforts continues to find the right tenants for the remaining vacant spaces." In addition to the Swedish Coast Guard and Freemelt This press release is in all respects a translation of the Swedish original press release In the event of any discrepancies between this translation and the Swedish original Attachments2024-06-26 Corem signs six-year lease with the Swedish Coast Guardmajorna-219-7-gotebo-2.jpg Corem’s local offices Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Corem has signed a 5-year lease with the 3D printer company Freemelt of 1,511 square meters in the property Majorna 219:7 in Gothenburg The premises will house headquarters with central management functions as well as product management Move-in is planned for the fourth quarter of 2024 "Freemelt is now switching up the company's strategy with commercialization and industrialization which results in a growing organization and a need of new types of competence An innovative and inspiring work environment is an important piece of the puzzle for our continued development and to be able to attract the best competence to achieve our ambitions to become a leading productivity partner in additive manufacturing in 2030," says Daniel Gidlund The property Majorna 219:7 has a good commuting location and good parking opportunities It also has a good signage location between the access highway Oskarsleden and river Göta älv "We are pleased to welcome Freemelt as a new tenant at Corem we will now make the final adaptations of the premises where we will also review how we can work with recycling Freemelt contributes positively to strengthening the area Fiskhamnen in Majorna and the development that takes place here," said Anna Lidhagen-Ohlsén Attachments2024-06-03 Corem signs 5-year lease with Freemelt of approximately 1,500 sq.m. in Gothenburgmajorna-219-7-gotebo-1.jpg Get an exclusive sneak peek of the new pieces before you can see them anywhere else Mackenzie Schmidt is the Home and Travel Editor for PEOPLE She's worked at PEOPLE for over five years as a writer and editor on the Lifestyle team The Local Europe ABVästmannagatan 43113 25 StockholmSweden Please log in here to leave a comment By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Having expanded beyond its mostly denim-based roots, Nudie Jeans has gone on to carve out space for itself within almost every facet of the fashion world Nudie Jeans has aligned with Sweden-based shoe manufacturer Kavat to curate two special pairs of a “Hisingen” and “Majorna” handcrafted boots Sweden factory and are made from supple vegetable-tanned leathers Pulling on Kavat’s rich leather history since its inception in 1945 the boots are made from the same quality standards and hand-guided practices that the manufacturer has followed for decades Reaching beyond just the products that they create Kavat and Nudie’s partnership expands into the core beliefs and philosophies of the companies After switching over to 100% sustainable denim in fall of 2012 Nudie’s decision to take strides towards more sustainable means is in line with Kavat’s perpetual initiatives to always remain transparent about its ongoing independent lab test on all of its materials and textiles Gothenburg is a smart city. I mean that in every possible way. It’s a good-looking place with large parks and wide boulevards, it’s home to some of Sweden’s brightest young tech companies, and it’s also blazing a trail for urban sustainability and environmental kindness. Here’s a user’s guide to Sweden’s hip Summer is the best time to visit Gothenburg as it’s never too hot and, unlike some other cities like Copenhagen isn’t a massive tourist hotspot at the best of times You might get lucky with the weather in September or as early as the end of April but June to August is your best bet for nice weather As it happens, our own Hana Leakey has visited Gothenburg once in late January and “bloody freezing” in January; and it was comfortable but still breezy in July The main body of the city is to the south of the railway station and the dockyards along the Göta älv river and it’s the best place to get your bearings The older part of the city lies between the river and the zig-zagging canal that also marks the old city walls — here’s where you’ll begin A post shared by Göteborg/Gothenburg (@goteborgcom) you’ll immediately be thrust into the mad rush of commuters where Norra and Östra Hamngatan intersect everyone battling to get onto one of Gothenburg’s signature light blue trams the city’s founder (and the inevitable seagull perched on top of his head) before heading south over the canal and into the Old Town The original city burned down in a series of fires in the 1700s; the buildings you see now are 19th-century constructions This gives the city its distinctive style — solid straight lines — and the cobbled streets that criss-cross the area in a grid are now home to boutiques and all manner of other locally-owned businesses you’ll pop out of a street onto a square and spot something unexpected — a cathedral a library — before diving back in to see what you can find you can exit the Old Town through the battlements and cross the moat into Kungsparken the long strip of greenery that runs between the Old Town and the newer part of the city Built mainly between 1870 and 1920 and separated by the University of Gothenburg and its Vasaparken these two areas are home to more generic chains of shops especially down the wide boulevard of Kungsportsavenyen A post shared by Galleri Thomassen (@gallerithomassen) Everything feels much larger and more open, and it’s where you’ll find a lot of the city’s cultural institutions, with art galleries like Galleri Thomassen It’s pretty typical of the kind of cool Scandi space in which you expect to see tall men in turtleneck sweaters and rimless glasses mingling with waif-like women in black dresses and unusual hats while looking pointedly at things A post shared by restaurangtotale (@restaurangtotale) as they claim — and serves locally sourced or down to the statue of Poseidon on the large square in front of the vast art gallery and concert hall complex that dominates the southern end of Kungsportsavenyen a slightly more raffish neighborhood than anywhere mentioned above It’s a good area for slightly grubby nightlife and also — interestingly (for me at least) — second-hand record shops Good to see I’ve got a nose for finding cool places There’s a selection of great record shops, including Linné skivbörs (classic rock, soul and jazz), Andra Långgatans Skivhandel (one of the largest, dealing in vinyl, CDs, DVDs and record player repairs), and Dirty Records which is also a vegetarian café and coffee shop this is also the area for cheap (by Swedish standards) world food Haga is home to a few more restaurants and cafés as well as a former (actually not that big) fortress called Kronan which if you fancy climbing the (actually not that big) hill gives you views of the surrounding red roofs and out to the river Jump on one of the clattering blue trams and head out of the very center of the city to discover more of suburban Gothenburg and learn about the history of one of Sweden’s biggest and proudest companies This part of town had been recommended to me by my friend Johanna who went to university in Gothenburg for a while and it stuck in my head because it sounded a bit like ‘mayonnaise’ I took the tram to Kaptensgatan and got off with no real plan other than just walking in the direction of wherever looked interesting I found myself skirting the Marieberg cemetery then getting vaguely lost in a series of paths across a wooded hilltop before descending to a large roundabout at the northern end of Mariagatan This was more like it. Comfortable, suburban Gothenburg, but even then with an interesting mix of locally-owned businesses. People were having brunch outside Materia a couple of art student-looking types were poking around the antique bazaar next door and a motley selection of locals were queuing at what I was later informed was a famous hot dog kiosk topped with mashed potato and shrimp salad taking photos of some excellent 1950s buildings before heading to the park the city had reached the forest and a local merchant decided that what the city needed was a park modeled on one of the great parks of London (think The Regent’s Park) — still wild but with pathways and occasional bits of landscaping here and there and “the barefoot trail” — a 300-meter-long sensory path walking down the hill and emerging on Hålekärrsgatan I spotted a small table and a sign offering face painting for five krona I stopped to ponder this when I was noticed by a family sitting in their garden This was their young daughter’s idea for making some pocket money I’m going to tell you right now that this was if not the main reason I’d come to Gothenburg then certainly something I wasn’t going to miss We grew up with Volvos in my family and I bloody love them (I will own an Amazon one day; that is going to happen) in that it was pretty difficult to get there it was Saturday and what I hadn’t realized is that if you’d like the bus on Saturday you have to phone Västtrafik (Gothenburg’s municipal transport authority) and book a bus at least one hour in advance I’d have been stumped were it not for two chaps visiting from a Volvo plant in India whose boss had organized transport Anyway, the museum is great. I’d been to the BMW equivalent in Munich a couple of months prior and found it informative they became the go-to manufacturer not only for family cars their Polestar high-performance road car arm It was here where I got to meet a childhood icon of mine one of the 850 estates that raced in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship After the nice woman at reception had ordered a bus for anyone who wanted to head back into the city Unless you’re sticking very close to the center, you’ll almost certainly need to take a tram or bus at some point. The best way to do this is by downloading the Västtrafik To Go app This will give you everything you need: routes regardless of whether your journey takes that long or not so you can use the same ticket again if you’ve still got time left on it Dinner in a mid-range restaurant: €30 — €45 per person 3-star hotel for one night: €80 — €130 with breakfast Visit Kiwi.com Stories for more travel inspiration David Szmidt: David is a lead writer for Kiwi.com will build 141 tenant-owner apartments in Gothenburg The apartments mark the final phase in the new Fixfabiken residential area that is being developed in western Gothenburg This contract carries a value of around SEK365m HSB Göteborg business area manager Kristian Isberg said: “HSB and NCC have enjoyed a strong and long-standing partnership and we look forward to developing the Majorna district together with NCC as the contractor With our collective expertise and NCC’s solid experience of building sustainable residential units we are creating modern and attractive accommodation for the residents of Gothenburg.” This assignment of NCC is a turnkey contract that will be performed in a partnering mode and will include the development of 141 apartments and city row houses ranging from studios to four-bedroom units These properties can be accessed through five stairwells in buildings that range from two to thirteen floors Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis The contract also covers constructing the tenant-owner association’s common areas NCC Building Sweden head Henrik Landelius said: “The shared base of expertise that HSB and NCC have built up over time ensures a successful partnership concerning the block We have built many of HSB’s projects across the country and are pleased with the continued confidence shown in us by HSB to participate in the creation of more homes in Gothenburg.” The block will be named HSB brf Spanjoletten It will be environmentally certified under the Sweden Green Building Council Fixfabriken is located in western Gothenburg where HSB Gothenburg and Fastighets AB Balder are joining to build four residential blocks a joint project between the real estate industry and the City of Gothenburg Construction is slated to begin in mid-April 2022 The project is expected to be finish in Q1 2025 The contract value will be registered by the firm during the first quarter of 2022 ————————————————————————————————————— Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network Microsoft’s Azure Quantum program has developed devices that can create quantum properties which scientists have imagined for nearly a century but have not been able to unambiguously produce in the real world — until now “What’s amazing is humans have been able to engineer a system to demonstrate one of the most exotic pieces of physics in the universe And we expect to capitalize on this to do the almost unthinkable — to push towards a fault-tolerant quantum machine that will enable computation on an entirely new level that’s closer to the way nature operates,” said Krysta Svore a Microsoft distinguished engineer who leads the company’s quantum software program and until now it was never certain that it could be done here’s this ultimate validation that we’re on the right path,” she said Building on two decades of scientific research and recent investments in simulation and fabrication the Azure Quantum team has engineered devices that allow them to induce a topological phase of matter bookended by a pair of Majorana zero modes These quantum excitations don’t normally exist in nature and must be coaxed into appearing under incredibly precise conditions Scientists have sought to create and observe these excitations since they were first theorized about in 1937 they’ve realized that Majorana zero modes can play an important role in protecting quantum information and enabling reliable computation The Azure Quantum team has also been able to produce what is known as a topological phase and to measure the topological gap which quantifies the stability of the phase The ability to create and sustain a quantum phase with Majorana zero modes and a measurable topological gap removes the biggest obstacle to producing a unique type of qubit, which Microsoft’s quantum machine will use to store and compute information, called a topological qubit It’s the foundation for Microsoft’s approach to building a quantum computer that is expected to be more stable than machines built with other types of known qubits scientists are racing to better understand the complicated chemical or molecular processes that could help remove climate warming gases from the atmosphere create better batteries or sustainable sources of energy produce more food on a single acre of land or help remove pollutants to create clean water But even with today’s massive computing capabilities some of these problems exceed the limits of classical computers which would require years or decades or the lifetime of the universe to solve quantum computers seek to use quantum mechanics — the same laws and mathematical equations that describe how subatomic particles behave — to process information in entirely new ways and on a scale that has been previously unattainable “Figuring out how to feed the world or cure it of climate change will require discoveries or optimization of molecules that simply can’t be done by today’s classical computers and that’s where the quantum machine kicks in,” said Microsoft’s quantum corporate vice president Zulfi Alam who said he thinks a lot in his work about how to leave the world in a better place for his four-year-old “I don’t know that we’ve done that in the last two or three generations,” he said “So hopefully we can give back now and do something to help heal the planet and I believe we need the computational power of quantum computing to accomplish that.” But the Azure Quantum team determined early on that tackling these urgent, real-world problems will require quantum computers that employ a million qubits or more public demonstrations of gate-based quantum computing have used fewer than 130 And Microsoft’s experts expect that many of today’s qubits have limitations that will make it difficult to achieve the scale necessary to support commercial quantum applications That’s why Azure Quantum has focused on developing topological qubits smaller and less prone to losing information than other types of qubits currently under development Microsoft believes creating a more stable topological qubit is the clearest and fastest path to building an industrial-scale quantum machine the downside of pursuing a topological qubit was that no one was sure it was possible to harness the underlying quantum physics to produce them “The fact that we have done this thing that’s very very hard and can now make devices that produce this topological phase shows that we have a very talented team that is up to the challenge and can tackle the next critical steps,” said Chetan Nayak a Microsoft distinguished engineer who leads the quantum hardware program “This proves the key aspects of this elusive physics and now it’s full steam ahead to the topological qubit,” he said Microsoft distinguished engineer who leads Azure Quantum’s hardware program But no quantum computer yet exists on a scale that can deliver on the promise of solving complicated real-world problems Every decision and every investment in Azure Quantum has been focused on one long-term goal: developing a quantum machine and supporting an ecosystem that allows Azure customers to solve real-world enterprise-scale problems with the technology This quantum machine is designed to work hand-in-hand with Azure’s classical computing resources to offer customers new capabilities a chemical company might be able to design new catalysts in a matter of weeks rather than decades in a lab Scientists may be able to unlock nature’s secrets to more sustainably harvest light and improve photovoltaics for cleaner energy Whoever develops a commercial quantum accelerator first will have a strong competitive advantage It’s yet another way that Azure plans to continue to deliver best-in-class cloud services and empower its enterprise customers to deliver breakthroughs in their industries a million-qubit quantum computer should be able to accurately simulate complex molecules in pursuit of new chemical catalysts that a classical computer even the size of the entire solar system would not be able to model “This is the next big breakthrough in computing — there’s no confusion about that in the minds of the corporate world,” Alam said But to build a commercially useful quantum computer its qubits need to perform well across three key dimensions: reliability making it difficult to maintain a state where qubits can perform computations reliably To offer advantages over classical computing qubits also need to process information quickly And a quantum machine’s components can’t be so large that they would fill a warehouse or a football field which will make systems built on certain types of qubits difficult to scale “You can go build a qubit — that’s not a problem But we know that to get to millions of qubits working together which is what’s really needed to unlock new materials and do the practical applications that we want to do you need to nail these three things at the same time,” said Lauri Sainiemi Microsoft’s general manager for fabrication Azure Quantum’s general manager for fabrication One challenge in developing a quantum computer is that qubits readily collapse and decohere when they encounter environmental noise such as heat stray subatomic particles or magnetic fields.  Information is lost and the qubits are no longer useful for computation and the quantum computer has to devote even more unreliable qubits to correcting them It’s like trying to keep an entire room of plates spinning on chopsticks when the smallest perturbation can cause one plate to become unbalanced and start crashing into all the others Microsoft’s approach has been to pursue a topological qubit that has built-in protection from environmental noise which means it should take far fewer qubits to perform useful computation and correct errors Topological qubits should also be able to process information quickly and one can fit more than a million on a wafer that’s smaller than the security chip on a credit card quantum information can be encoded in a pair of Majorana zero modes that are physically separated This makes a topological qubit more immune to environmental noise which can’t interact with or destroy the information when it encounters just one The only way to unlock the quantum information is to look at the combined state of both Majorana zero modes at the same time Taking these measurements in a strategic way enables both quantum operations and creates inherent protection for the qubit the Azure Quantum team needed to demonstrate how to reliably create the topological phase that confers these stability They developed a process that layers semiconducting and superconducting materials onto a device in an extremely controlled and atomically precise way  In the presence of specific magnetic fields and voltages the devices can produce a topological phase with a pair of Majorana zero modes — characterized by telltale energy signatures that will appear at either end of a nanowire under the right conditions — and a measurable topological gap When exploring what architectures would meet the requirements to run practical quantum applications Microsoft’s quantum experts came to believe that a topological qubit was the only building block that checked all three boxes for a quantum computer that could achieve the necessary scale for practical use But they also knew that deciding to invest in this challenging topological approach was a little like choosing to climb a mountain straight up from the trailhead to ultimately be rewarded with an easier walk along the ridgeline rather than taking the easier path of staying in the valley only later to reach a cliff that blocks upward progress “Microsoft has taken this very risky but high reward approach in trying to make a qubit which on the theory side looks like the very best qubit you can get. But the challenge was that nobody has really seen these Majorana zero modes in real life,” said Peter Krogstrup, scientific director of Microsoft’s Quantum Materials Lab in Lyngby We have to continue to evolve our engineering capabilities but it really looks like there is a path towards scalable quantum computing now.” Microsoft Hardware Engineer Ajuan Cui and Senior Researcher Mohana Rajpalke collaborate inside Microsoft’s Quantum Materials Lab Roman Lutchyn remembers eating lunch in a hotel when he got an email last year from a colleague who had been asked to analyze the measurements from an experiment on the team’s newest device design. Earlier, they had worked with quantum experts to develop a checklist of all the things they’d need to see in the data to convince themselves that they’d truly achieved the topological breakthrough a Microsoft partner research manager with expertise in quantum simulation picked this colleague to analyze the data because he had historically been a healthy skeptic on the team He also hadn’t been involved in designing or testing this particular device which involves sending an electrical current through the system and seeing how the materials respond the data checked all the boxes they’d been looking for There were a pair of telltale energy signatures called zero bias peaks which indicate the presence of Majorana zero modes at both ends of a nanowire that’s been tuned into a topological phase that signature had only been seen at one end of the wire and not in combination There was also another pattern in the electrical conductance data that provided evidence of a topological gap which is measurement that quantifies how immune the topological phase is to environmental disturbance The team needed to see the gap closing and reopening — along with the simultaneous appearance of the two zero bias peaks — which they did clearly for the first time the hardware team has invited an external council that includes some of the world’s leading experts in the quantum field to review the latest results in detail and offer feedback and validation for the discovery The Azure Quantum team understood that simply seeing one piece of evidence in isolation would not be sufficient But they say the accumulation of data from their latest device designs — seeing all the patterns they’ve been looking for in conjunction with one another and on multiple devices — makes a much more compelling case it can be hard to tell what you’re looking at,” said Judith Suter a Microsoft senior researcher who works in the Quantum Materials Lab it’s tough to tell what animal it came from But if you find a whole skeleton put together Microsoft partner research manager who leads Azure Quantum’s simulation team the Azure Quantum hardware team has moved from a largely experimental approach — testing theories in the lab and learning by trial and error — to simulating designing and engineering materials with specific requirements for optimal performance “We are not motivated by scientific discovery alone We are in the business of building products that deliver value and empower our customers to do the once unimaginable,” said Alam who helped drive a cultural shift across the program that many agree has helped accelerate the team’s recent progress “Building a quantum computer is similar to sending someone to the moon or adventuring to Mars It has the same level of complexity — or more — and requires a team of experts all working very closely together where the mission is much greater than the individual parts,” Alam said the company’s quantum research relied on largely academic approaches that encouraged multiple teams to test whatever theories they saw as most promising based on deep expertise in quantum physics but also a little bit of intuition and guesswork It requires setting up and running experiment after experiment in a lab which can be time consuming and sometimes make it difficult to quickly isolate what contributed to a success or failure Using Azure’s massive computing capabilities Lutchyn and other researchers at Microsoft’s Station Q lab in Santa Barbara have developed new quantum simulation capabilities to complement the team’s invaluable academic research This now allows the hardware team to model and predict how different device designs — from the materials that are used to the dimensions of each component to how qubits can be linked together — influence quantum behavior This ability to iteratively test different scenarios and tweak individual parameters in simulation has allowed the team to isolate what characteristics are the most important drivers of performance “This brings the program to the next level because it’s switching from an experimental and scientific approach to more of an industrial and engineering approach,” Lutchyn said You can say ‘this is the recipe and here are the specs you need to hit’ and then more predictably you get what you expect to see.” Experts at Microsoft’s Copenhagen Quantum Materials Lab and elsewhere have also spent the last several years inventing or optimizing fabrication techniques that now allow them to engineer and make devices with atomic level precision Figuring out how to assemble key elements of the latest device in a high vacuum environment has also allowed hardware teams to achieve purity levels that were impossible with conventional fabrication techniques These and other fabrication advances were also instrumental in realizing Microsoft’s latest breakthrough allowing the people making the hardware to match and physically realize the ideal specifications generated by the design and simulation team “We are now led by designs that are based on simulations not just someone batting ideas around in a conference room,” said Nayak “And now we have the unique growth and fabrication technologies to bring those ideas to life It doesn’t matter if you have the best designs in the world — if you can’t make them scientific director of Microsoft’s Quantum Materials Lab in Denmark there is far more challenging work ahead on the path to creating a scalable quantum computer design and fabrication capabilities will continue to benefit the Azure Quantum team as they tackle next steps: figuring out how to make a topological gap more robust and stable entangling Majorana building blocks to make a qubit processing information with qubits that can perform meaningful computation and connecting qubits that must operate at temperatures colder than outer space into a scalable machine But the most important scientific question mark has now been erased And the next set of problems on the horizon “There’s no fundamental obstacle to producing a topological qubit anymore,” said Sainiemi “This definitely doesn’t mean that we’re done — we still have tons of work to do But the fundamental part has been demonstrated and now we’re on more of an engineering path and that’s what we’ll continue to pursue.” Top image: Postdoctoral researcher Xiaojing Zhao works in Microsoft’s Quantum Materials Lab where an important milestone towards creating a topological qubit and scalable quantum computer has been demonstrated Jennifer Langston writes about Microsoft research and innovation. Follow her on Twitter Sweden's housing market is tightly controlled with rents from the big private and municipal landlords set in negotiations with the Swedish Tenants' Association Subletting rents – theoretically at least – are supposed to cover the costs of the apartment without making a profit the hikes agreed with the Tenants' Association have been well below the headline rate of inflation meaning rents are falling in Sweden in real terms rents have been falling even in nominal terms - without being adjusted for inflation "In the wake of economic crisis, interest rate hikes and inflation, more and more Swedes are seeing the need to rent out part or all of their property," explained Fredrik Strömsten, chief executive of Qasa, which runs Blocket's property listings site, in a report in April been an "explosive increase in the number of sublets" How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Gothenburg directly The most recent rental numbers from Statistics Sweden data back to the end of 2022 These show that while upmarket areas like central Gothenburg Majorna and Härlanda are the most expensive areas to rent in so-called "first-hand apartments" (apartments rented directly via the municipality's housing queue) there are only about a third more expensive than those in much less desirable areas of the city give quite a misleading idea of the real cost of living in these parts of the city With queues for rental apartments in Majorna and Central Gothenburg running to about ten years most foreigners coming to Sweden's second city are unlikely to ever get a chance to rent at such rates Nonetheless, rents across Sweden are rising more slowly than inflation and Gothenburg is no exception. According to Hem & Hyra the news site run by the Tenants' Association the big four municipal landlords with a total of 75,000 tenants agreed to hike rents by 4.25 percent in May while private landlords with a total of 35,000 tenants agreed to hike rent by between 2.25 percent and 4.2 percent The Tenants' Association said it had bargained them down from an initial offer of 9.73 percent This means that if you're lucky enough to get to rent an apartment directly from a municipal or private landlord you can expect to pay just over 4 percent more than the numbers in the table above If you decide to live in the municipalities outside Gothenburg rent can be cheaper and housing queues shorter but it can also more expensive if you live in the most desirable municipalities such as Partille and Ale How much does it cost to sublet an apartment in Gothenburg As a foreigner coming to Sweden, you are much more likely to end up subletting an apartment, using sites like Blocket or The Local's own rental platform And although Sweden's rental rules are designed to prevent subletting for profit in reality you will often find yourself paying a hefty premium Across most of Sweden sublet rents are stable or falling as cash-strapped renters are forced to sublet rooms or their entire apartments but Gothenburg is something of an exception to this trend The median rent for sublets in the city shot up by 12.7 percent between the first three months of 2022 and the first three months of 2023 increasing by as much as 21.2 percent in the Västra Göteborg district and by 15 percent in Örgryte-Härlanda The rise in sublet rentals appears to have slowed down however with only a slight increase between the last three months of 2022 and the first months of 2023 with sublet apartments going for roughly double what you would pay if you were lucky enough to get a direct lease on an apartment in these areas First of all: where to look? The city of Gothenburg suggests on its website that sublets, houses and townhouses to rent all across West Sweden can be found on Blocket a popular digital marketplace (in Swedish) If you're buying, most apartments and houses for sale in Gothenburg and West Sweden can be seen on the websites Hemnet and Booli Local newspapers often have property listings Real estate agents (mäklare) can also help you find a place Majorna is a residential area in Gothenburg that has transformed from being a classic working-class district to becoming a hip and restaurant-dense cultural hub in Gothenburg. The buildings typical for Majorna are three storey buildings with the first storey built in stone and the topmost two built with wood — the houses traditionally called Landshövdingehus This neighbourhood just west of the city center beautifully positioned between the river Göta älv and the park Slottsskogen Majorna was traditionally populated with industrial workers and dockers The area is still supposed to have a strong working-class identity with many people living in Majorna seeing themselves as radical This doesn’t mean, however, that one can live in Majorna on a shoestring. The average price per square meter here is approximately 58,300 kronor as of June 2023, according to Hemnet From the centre of Gothenburg it’s only a short bus or tram ride across the river to Hisingen It’s Sweden's fifth largest island - after Gotland Södertörn and Orust - and the second most populous Hisingen is surrounded by the Göta älv river in the south and east the Nordra älv in the north and the Kattegat in the west The first city carrying the name Gothenburg was founded on Hisingen in 1603 was burned down by the Danes in 1611 during the so-called Kalmar War and the only remnant is the foundation of the church that stood in the city centre Hisingen housed some of the world's largest shipyards until the shipyard crisis of the 1970s the northern bank of the Göta älv has undergone major expansion university buildings and several industries (including Volvo) have largely replaced the former shipyards Hisingen comprises many different neighbourhoods — Kvillebäcken Backa and Biskopsgården are only some examples there is a public open-air pool and a spectacular sauna Further inland you’ll find the beautiful Hisingsparken Apartment prices are still relatively low in certain parts of Hisingen while the housing market in other neighbourhoods is booming The average metre-squared price on Hisingen lies around 43,000 kronor Gamlestaden or the Old Town was founded as early as 1473 200 years before Gothenburg's current city centre was built You can take a seven-minute tram ride towards the northeast to this upcoming district (popularly known as ‘Gamlestan’) which is characterised by the original Landshövdingehus in combination with an international atmosphere mostly the factory of bearing manufacturer SKF as restaurants and vintage shops move into the old red-brick factory buildings The multicultural neighbourhood is also close to the famous Kviberg’s marknad (market) and Bellevue marknad where you can buy everything from exotic fruits and vegetables to second-hand clothes The Gamlestaden district is developing and should become a densely populated and attractive district with new housing, city shopping and services. In the future, twice as many inhabitants will live here compared to today, according to Stadsutveckling Göteborg (City development Gothenburg) Around 3,000 new apartments should be built here in the coming years The current price per metre squared in Gamlestaden is 46,500 kronor but it probably will be the most idyllic place you’ll ever live in: Gothenburg’s northern or southern archipelago (skärgården) With a public bus or tram you can get from the city centre to the sea and from there you hop on a ferry taking you to one of many picturesque islands just off the coast of Gothenburg There are car ferries from Hisingen to the northern archipelago Some of the islands here are also connected by bridges The southern archipelago can be reached by ferries leaving from the harbour of Saltholmen Gothenburg’s southern archipelago has around 5,000 permanent and another 6,000 summer residents The archipelago is completely car free and transportation is carried out mostly by means of cycles Most residences here are outstanding — wooden houses and cottages big gardens — and always close to both nature and sea Some people rent out their summer houses during the other three seasons When buying a house here (the average price being upwards of 5 million kronor) you have to be aware that living in a wooden house on an exposed island often comes with a lot of renovating and painting