New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS): Chip maker Intel has debuted second-generation cryogenic control chip called Horse Ridge II housing key capabilities to overcome scalability, one of the biggest hurdles of quantum computing.

Building on innovations in the first-generation Horse Ridge controller introduced in 2019, Horse Ridge II supports enhanced capabilities and higher levels of integration for elegant control of the quantum system, the company said during the Intel Labs Day virtual event on Thursday.

New features in Horse Ridge II include the ability to manipulate and read qubit states and control the potential of several gates required to entangle multiple qubits.

"Horse Ridge II further streamlines quantum circuit controls, and we expect this progress to deliver increased fidelity and decreased power output, bringing us one step closer toward the development of a 'traffic-free' integrated quantum circuit," said Jim Clarke, Intel director of Quantum Hardware, Components Research Group, Intel.

Horse Ridge II introduces two additional control features, paving the way for further integration of external electronic controls into the system-on-chip (SoC) operating inside the cryogenic refrigerator.

A quantum computer can solve complex problems that would otherwise take billions of years for today's computers to solve. This has massive implications for research in health care, energy, environmental systems, smart materials and more.

The current bits in computers store information as either 1 or 0, thus limiting the potential to make sense when faced with gigantic volumes of data.