Amazon executives are expressing serious doubts about Microsoft's recent claims of a quantum computing breakthrough. In an email to CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon's head of quantum technologies, Simone Severini, questioned the validity of Microsoft's announcement, suggesting it's more hype than substance.
"This seems to be a meaningful technical advancement, but it's far different from the breakthrough being portrayed in the media coverage," Severini wrote.
On February 19, Microsoft unveiled a new quantum processor called Majorana 1, touting its potential to store more data and perform complex calculations. However, Severini's email, obtained by Business Insider, suggests the underlying scientific paper "doesn't actually demonstrate" the claimed achievement. He pointed out that the chip "could potentially enable future experiments," but that's it.
Adding fuel to the fire, Severini noted Microsoft's past issues with "several retracted papers due to scientific misconduct" in the quantum computing arena.
Internal Slack messages reveal even stronger sentiments. Oskar Painter, Amazon's head of quantum hardware, called for a pushback against what he termed "BS statements like S. Nadella's," likely referring to the Microsoft CEO's enthusiastic social media posts about the Majorana chip.
Painter remarked that Microsoft is "next level (in BS and hype)," contrasting it with his more positive views on Google and IBM's quantum computing endeavors.
Another Amazon employee humorously noted that marketing teams seem to be outpacing the hardware R&D teams at Google, IBM, and Microsoft.
Industry experts also chimed in, adding context to the debate. Arka Majumdar, a computer engineering professor at the University of Washington, acknowledged Microsoft's achievements but deemed them "insignificant" in the grand scheme of creating a useful quantum computer. He found Microsoft's claims "sensational" and "overhyped."
Scott Aaronson, a renowned quantum computing researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, pointed out that Microsoft's claim of creating a topological qubit "has not yet been accepted by peer review."
The peer review file of Microsoft's Nature report stated:
"...the results in this manuscript do not represent evidence for the presence of Majorana zero modes in the reported devices"
It also clarified that the work is intended to introduce an architecture that "might enable fusion experiments using future Majorana zero modes."
In response, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that the Nature paper was published a year after submission and that the company had made "tremendous progress" since then. They plan to share additional data "in the coming weeks and months." The spokesperson also acknowledged that "discourse and skepticism are all part of the scientific process."
Amazon and Microsoft also diverge on the timeline for practical quantum computing. Microsoft anticipates "utility-scale quantum computers are just years away, not decades," while Amazon projects another 10-20 years before mainstream adoption.
Chris Ballance, CEO of Oxford Ionics, noted that Amazon's recent quantum chip announcement was similarly vague. Despite the skepticism, Ballance views the flurry of quantum news as a "good sign" for the industry, signaling growing awareness and the need to address quantum computing in strategic roadmaps.