A study led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside has shown that scalable quantum architectures can be created, consisting of many small chips working together as one powerful unit. The researchers simulated realistic architectures and found that even imperfect links between quantum chips can still produce a functioning, fault-tolerant quantum system. This is a leap forward in scaling quantum hardware, as it allows for the detection and correction of errors automatically, giving reliable outputs even with imperfect hardware. The team found that even when the links between chips were up to 10 times noisier than the chips themselves, the system still managed to detect and correct errors. This means that quantum computers can be built without waiting for perfect hardware, as long as each chip is operating with high fidelity. The research was motivated by published work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and supported by the National Science Foundation.