Information and Communication Technology: UPSC Previous Year Questions (Science and Technology)

Explanation

Statement I is correct:The Majorana 1 chip, developed by Microsoft and announced on February 19, 2025, is the world’s first Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) using a Topological Core architecture based on topoconductors (indium arsenide and aluminum). It leverages Majorana zero modes (MZMs)--quasiparticles that are their own antiparticles--to build topological qubits. These qubits are theorized to offer inherent stability and require less error correction than traditional qubits. Microsoft claims the chip can scale up to 1 million qubits and enable fault-tolerant quantum computing for fields like drug discovery, cryptography, and materials science.

Statement II is incorrect: The Majorana 1 chip is not from AWS. AWS introduced the Ocelot chip on February 27, 2025, developed with Caltech, using cat qubits and transmons. AWS Braket, its quantum platform, supports hardware from IonQ, Rigetti, and QuEra, but has no connection to Majorana 1.

Statement III is correct: Deep learning is a specialized subfield of machine learning, which itself is a subdomain of artificial intelligence (AI). Deep learning uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) with multiple layers (e.g., convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs)) to model complex patterns in large datasets, excelling in tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition. Machine learning includes broader algorithms like decision trees, support vector machines (SVMs), and neural networks, with deep learning specifically requiring large datasets and computational power (e.g., GPUs).