The Download: a useful quantum machine and a record-breaking subsea tunnel
MIT Technology Review explores the development of a practical quantum computer by PsiQuantum and the engineering of a massive subsea tunnel in Norway. These projects represent significant advancements in computing and infrastructure.
Why it matters
Breakthroughs in quantum computing and large-scale civil engineering are critical for solving complex global problems and improving connectivity.
Plus: Meta allegedly used AI to target workers with health issues for layoffs.
This is today's edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
The machine that could change the world will be housed in a room that looks like a data center crossed with an ice cream factory.
Inside, some 100 stainless-steel cabinets each hold hundreds of chips. On those chips, thousands of light particles will fly through a maze of optical switches and beam splitters. Each photon must be accounted for, because precisely measuring where it ends up will help answer questions that current computers might take millions of years to solve.
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