Amazon’s hardware partners represent three different approaches to quantum processors, which are built from devices called qubits that encode data into quantum mechanical effects. Bay Area startup Rigetti uses superconducting circuits, the same approach as IBM and Google; Canada’s D-Wave uses similar technology to make processors limited to certain operations; and IonQ, a spinout from the University of Maryland, uses individual ions controlled with lasers.
Longer term, Amazon’s menu of quantum offerings could include quantum processors of its own. Simone Severini, the company's director of quantum computing and a professor at University College London, says Amazon is working on quantum hardware, but declined to provide details.
Here is a nice intro to quantum computing and the approaches different vendors are taking
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