BENGALURU & MUMBAI — In an epochal scientific milestone under the ₹6,003-crore National Quantum Mission (NQM), a consortium of Indian physicists and micro-fabrication engineers led by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has successfully operationalized India’s first indigenous 100-qubit superconducting quantum processor. Operating inside a specialized dilution refrigerator chilled to just 8 millikelvin above absolute zero, the processor demonstrated an outstanding 99.4% two-qubit gate fidelity.
The breakthrough validates India’s domestic quantum computing roadmap, elevating the country into an elite echelon of global powers possessing native full-stack quantum hardware, software compilers, and cryogenic control systems.
Superconducting Qubit Architecture and Cryogenic Precision
Fabricated using advanced electron-beam lithography at cleanroom facilities in Mumbai, the chip utilizes aluminum-based Josephson junctions forming non-linear LC oscillator circuits. By manipulating quantum superposition and entanglement states via micro-wave frequency pulses, the machine executes computational simulations in seconds that would require millennia on conventional silicon supercomputers.
Crucially, the complex dilution refrigeration systems, low-noise amplifiers, and cryogenic coaxial cabling were integrated in collaboration with domestic high-precision industrial partners, establishing an independent domestic supply chain free from western export restrictions.
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The Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Transition
While quantum computing promises revolutionary advances in oncology research, fertilizer synthesis, and battery chemistry, it simultaneously introduces an existential cybersecurity dilemma. Sufficiently scaled quantum machines running Shor’s algorithm will effortlessly shatter the public-key RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) protocols currently safeguarding global banking, defence communications, and digital identity databases.
Anticipating this threat, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has published a phased transition timeline mandating that all commercial banks, telecommunications operators, and defence command networks adopt National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-compliant lattice-based post-quantum cryptographic standards by December 2028.
Industrial Applications in Clean Energy and Materials Science
Immediate commercial research on the 100-qubit cluster will focus on molecular chemistry simulations. Research consortia from CSIR laboratories have booked compute time to model novel metal-organic frameworks for atmospheric carbon dioxide capture, as well as optimizing solid-state electrolyte interfaces for next-generation electric mobility batteries.
