AWS unveils Ocelot, its first quantum chip: 9 cat qubits, Nature paper shows 90% reduction in error-correction overhead

Amazon/Ocelot

AWS, in collaboration with Caltech, unveiled Ocelot, its first quantum computing chip. The device features nine superconducting qubits (5 cat data qubits + 4 error-detection qubits) on a chip about one centimeter square. A concurrent Nature paper demonstrates that cat qubits intrinsically suppress certain error types, reducing the number of physical qubits needed for quantum error correction by up to 90% compared to standard approaches.

• 9 qubits total: 5 cat data qubits + 4 error-detection qubits on a single chip.
• Cat qubits are tiny superconducting structures (tantalum) that suppress bit-flip errors through their physics, not software.
• Error-correction overhead reduction: up to 90% fewer physical qubits needed per logical qubit, a major advance.
• Research prototype co-developed with Caltech; Nature publication validates the architecture.