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Last month, Microsoft (MSFT-1.44%) announced that it created a new state of matter for its first quantum computing chip — a claim that Amazon (AMZN-2.58%) is reportedly not sold on.
The same day that Microsoft unveiled its Majorana 1 quantum computing chip, Amazon’s head of quantum technologies, Simone Severini, told chief executive Andy Jassy that the company’s scientific paper “doesn’t actually demonstrate” its claims — only that the new chip “could potentially enable future experiments,” Business Insider reported, citing a copy of Severini’s email obtained by the publication.
Severini also reportedly told Jassy that Microsoft has had “several retracted papers due to scientific misconduct” in quantum computing, and that the company has previously had to withdraw some of its research. Amazon Web Services chief executive Matt Garman and other executives also received Severini’s email, according to Business Insider.
Microsoft said that its quantum chip was built with “topological superconductors” or “topoconductors” — a “breakthrough” material that enabled the company to create a new state of matter called “topological superconductivity.”
“This seems to be a meaningful technical advancement, but it’s far different from the breakthrough being portrayed in the media coverage,” Severini reportedly said, adding that he’s unsure if the topological qubits can be of “any real performance benefit.”
Amazon’s head of quantum hardware, Oskar Painter, seemed to share Severini’s skepticism, saying there should be “push back on BS statements like S. Nadella’s,” in internal Slack messages reviewed by Business Insider. Painter was likely referring to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella’s post about the new state of matter on X.
Painter reportedly said that he has more confidence in quantum computing efforts by Google (GOOGL-3.28%) and IBM (IBM+0.07%), and that Microsoft is “next level (in BS and hype).”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Quartz.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Quartz that its scientific paper in Nature was published almost a year after it was submitted, and that while it “outlined our approach, it does not speak to our progress.” They added that Microsoft has made “tremendous progress” since then, and that its approach to quantum computing has been validated by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
“Discourse and skepticism are all part of the scientific process,” the spokesperson said. “That is why we are dedicated to the continued open publication of our research, so that everyone can build on what others have discovered and learned.”
The spokesperson added that Microsoft will be sharing more results and data behind its approach “in the coming weeks and months.”
The peer review file of the Nature paper reportedly says that “results in this manuscript do not represent evidence for the presence of Majorana zero modes in the reported devices,” but rather are meant to show something that “might enable fusion experiments using future Majorana zero modes.”
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services unveiled its first-ever quantum computing chip, Ocelot, a week after Microsoft’s announcement. The small-scale prototype chip was built to test its quantum error correction architecture, Amazon said.
Amazon said it designed the chip to implement quantum error correction in an efficient and scalable way that can reduce the additional qubits needed for the process by up to 90%.