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Quantum computers don’t always need more qubits – just add chaos

To create useful randomness in a quantum computer, you could add more quantum bits, but using quantum chaos does the trick too

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

5 May 2025

Illustration of a chip containing quantum bits, or qubits

Pete Hansen/Shutterstock

The effort to build truly useful quantum computers often comes down to making them bigger by adding qubits, the quantum bits that are the basic building blocks of these devices. But creating quantum chaos inside them could have the same effect – and let quantum computers perform some tasks that seem too big for them to handle.

Creating true quantum randomness – which is distinct from quantum chaos, and can be a useful resource in quantum technologies…

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