At Raman Research Lab at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Hyderabad, India’s first quantum computer is taking shape. It is not an assembled computing wonder but something that is being built right from chips and physics that shape the next-generation computing devices. The principal investigator is Raman Karthik, a physicist who studied at IITD, MIT and has worked in IBM before returning to academia. On World Quantum Day, he shares his vision with The Hindu’s Serish Nanisetti.
What is the status of quantum computing in Hyderabad?
If you’re talking about having a quantum computer in Hyderabad, there is absolutely none.
But at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, we have this project from the National Quantum Mission, through which a system is being built. TIFR Hyderabad has started a program called Quantum Foundry, which is being set up exactly to be able to build all the hardware in-house. At TIFR, Bombay, Vijay Raghavan, has built a six-qubit quantum computer. We are scaling up those activities here because of the space limitations in Bombay as we have a 200-acre campus here. This is going to allow the scalability to almost a 100-qubits and beyond.
The silicon chip fab has become secretive with ever smaller chips being manufactured in Taiwan. How is this foundry different?
