Toshiba's Breakthrough Algorithm Harnesses Edge of Chaos to Dramatically Boost Performance of its Quantum‑Inspired Computer

The SBM based on the new algorithm is therefore much faster. It delivers a time to solution (TTS) required to obtain an optimal or known best solution that is approximately 100 times faster than the SBM based on the second‑generation algorithm. These advances are expected to accelerate the practical applications of combinatorial optimization across a broad range of challenges.

The research results were published in the April 6, 2026 issue of Physical Review Applied, a peer‑reviewed journal of the American Physical Society Note:

*1 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaav2372

*2 https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/6/eabe7953

*3 In nonlinear dynamical systems, a phenomenon in which changes in system parameters (bifurcation parameters) cause the number of stable points to change from one to multiple.

*4 In the SB algorithm, the equations of motion of a classical dynamical system consisting of many oscillators are solved. A position variable represents the position of each oscillator, and these position variables correspond to the decision variables (discrete variables) of the combinatorial optimization problem.

*5 In nonlinear dynamical systems, a phenomenon in which even slight differences in initial conditions cause the subsequent trajectories of motion to diverge significantly, resulting in disordered (chaotic) behavior. This sensitivity of chaos to initial conditions is known as the butterfly effect, and the upper panel of Figure 1 provides a quantitative evaluation of this effect.

*6 https://doi.org/10.1103/2qd9-x6v8 About Toshiba

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