Iran unveils “quantum processor,” which turns out to be a developer board for a few hundred euros

Iran presents extremely advanced technology – or not. (Image: AdobeStock – Negro Elkha / Tasnim news)

Handling quantum computers is one of those things: On the one hand, they can carry out a large number of calculations in parallel and solve complex tasks much better than conventional computers. On the other hand, they are relatively error-prone and expensive to manufacture – not to mention the complexity.

No wonder there is only one in Germany so far. The Fraunhofer Institute “rents” it for up to 11,621 euros a month, including to research institutions.

Iran recently unveiled its very own “quantum processor.” As PCGamer reports, this should soon turn out to be an outright lie.

Amazon instead of quantum computers

Alleged “quantum processor”

Links: Quantum computer of the Fraunhofer Institute

Anyone who has ever seen a quantum computer knows that these are quite impressive buildings that often make a noble impression. The idea of ​​the comparatively tiny Iran’s Imam Khomeini University for Marine Sciences and Technologies.

A week later, Gabriel Noronha, a former US State Department adviser, tweeted that the piece of hardware was not a quantum processor.

Instead, it’s a developer board that anyone with an internet connection can order from Amazon for around 700 euros.

Even the manufacturer’s logo is crisp and clear when comparing the board to the Amazon product.

link to Twitter content

This is AVNet’s ZedBoard Zynq-7000, which developers can use to engage with AMD Xilinx. The board has just 256 gigabytes of memory, 512 megabytes of DDR 3 RAM and a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. Quantum technology is really out of the question.

Board official purposes include video processing, motor control, software acceleration, Linux/Android/RTOS development, embedded ARM processing, and general Zynq-7000 AP SoC prototyping.

You can buy the board for a good 700 euros on the German Amazon website.

Referring to the board, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said Iran “wants to use algorithms to combat the deception of surface ship tracking systems.”

This isn’t the first blunder the Iranian government has made, Vice reports. As early as 2020, they claimed to have developed a detector for Covid-19 very early on. That also turned out to be wrong.

What do you think of the Iranian “quantum processor”? Can you understand the faux pas? How would you feel if you were exposed to something like that? Can you imagine the motivations that those responsible had in mind? As always, let us know what you think in the comments!