Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its first quantum computing chip, Ocelot – a significant step in the cloud quantum computing race. The company claims that the Ocelot quantum computing chip is designed to significantly improve quantum error correction, a critical challenge in making quantum computers practical.
In fact, by reducing the cost of error correction by up to 90%, Ocelot brings AWS closer to building fault-tolerant quantum computers – systems that can reliably solve complex problems beyond the capability of classical computers.
Speaking in detail, AWS’s Ocelot is a quantum computing architecture that incorporates cat qubits, a special type of qubit inspired by Schrödinger’s cat. The chip has 14 key parts, including five “cat qubits” that store quantum information, five stabilizing circuits, and four extra qubits that detect errors.
These qubits have an inherent ability to suppress certain types of errors. To keep calculations stable, the cat qubits use special oscillators made from a superconducting material called Tantalum. AWS has developed a unique way to process Tantalum, making these oscillators more effective.
AWS researchers have integrated cat qubits and additional error correction mechanisms onto a single microchip. The company used techniques from traditional microelectronics manufacturing, which means this design could be mass-produced more easily compared to other quantum systems.
“In the future, quantum chips built according to the Ocelot architecture could cost as little as one-fifth of current approaches, due to the drastically reduced number of resources required for error correction. Concretely, we believe this will accelerate our timeline to a practical quantum computer by up to five years,” said Oskar Painter, AWS director of Quantum Hardware.
Interestingly, the development is led by the AWS Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech. This is a major step toward commercially and scientifically useful quantum computing, potentially revolutionizing fields like cryptography, materials science, and optimization.
Amazon is now directly competing with Microsoft’s Majorana and Google’s Willow in developing quantum hardware, rather than just providing access to third-party quantum computers through AWS. The development comes at a time when the quantum chip market is growing rapidly, with estimates ranging from $0.22 billion in 2025 to $16.223 billion in 2034.
Previously, AWS only offered access to other companies’ quantum machines (like those from IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave). Now, Amazon is building its own, which shows a deeper commitment to quantum R&D. By developing its own hardware, AWS can optimize its software, algorithms, and infrastructure for quantum, potentially leading to faster innovation and breakthroughs.
