I’m not all that concerned about needing a vacuum. It is...

I’m not all that concerned about needing a vacuum. It is immensely easier to create a vacuum than it is to create and maintain an environment at -170 °C as required by other quantum chips. It’s also immensely cheaper to maintain the vacuum. It‘s actually free.

Also, it should be possible to encapsulate the chip so that the vacuum is achieved. Edison did this with a light bulb that has maintained it’s vacuum for more than a century now.

Running at room temperature is far more important than requiring a vacuum.

Maybe the fact that they work a vacuum could be an astute marketing ploy for the space and satellite sectors.

I don’t know of any chips that operate in open air anyway—they are all encapsulated.