Google has announced the development of its new quantum computing chip, Willow.
The company said Willow can solve mathematical problems in five minutes that would take a classical supercomputer 10 septillion years, a period many times longer than the age of the universe.
A leap in quality
Google’s key milestone was the RCS (Random Circuit Sampling) benchmark.
A “qubit” is the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. Historically, the more qubits a quantum computer used, the more errors it produced. However, Google says its latest advancements have reversed this trend. Now, as the system expands, errors decrease.
“What we’ve been able to do in quantum error correction is a really important milestone,” said Julian Kelly, director of quantum hardware at Google Quantum AI. “This has been an exceptional challenge for 30 years, since the idea of quantum error correction was conceived in the mid-1990s.”
The potential implications are broad. Google says quantum computing could eventually be used to develop new pharmaceutical products, accelerate clean energy technologies and advance cybersecurity. The technology’s ability to process vast data sets at unprecedented speeds could also have a significant impact on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Challenges for practical use
Despite the breakthrough, practical applications remain distant. Most experts agree that fully fault-tolerant quantum computers capable of handling real-world applications are still years away.
One of the main challenges is increasing the number of qubits while keeping error rates low. Current quantum systems, including Google’s Willow, use logical qubits, collections of physical qubits that work together to reduce errors. Google’s demonstration showed that as logical qubits increase in size, error rates decrease. However, creating a single logical qubit can require hundreds or even thousands of physical qubits. To achieve truly useful quantum systems, experts believe millions of physical qubits will be needed. This introduces significant complexity in terms of hardware, cooling systems, and error correction protocols.
Another challenge is the limited scope of problems that quantum computers can currently solve. The RCS (Random Circuit Sampling) benchmark used to test Willow is widely considered a technical demonstration rather than a practical tool for real-world applications. This does not translate directly into commercial uses or demonstrate that the system can address industry-relevant tasks.
Market reaction
The market reaction to the announcement was swift. Alphabet shares rose more than 5% on Tuesday and are up more than 33% year to date. Analysts suggest that Google’s clear advantage in quantum error correction could strengthen its lead over rivals, including IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon and Honeywell.
Hartmut Neven, founder and leader of Google Quantum AI, noted: “[Q]uantum processors are peeling off at a doubly exponential rate and will continue to vastly outperform classical computers as we scale up.”