Google unveils quantum chip that can solve in minutes what would take a supercomputer a quadrillion years to accomplish

Google introduced Willowa quantum chip capable of solving a problem that would take a modern supercomputer a quadrillion years to solve. The tech giant has taken a significant step in its strategy to create a large-scale quantum computer that can accelerate scientific development and solve humanity’s problems. Willow is the successor to Sycamore, the first processor to beat a classic supercomputer in 2019.

According to Google, Willow is capable of performing a standard benchmark calculation in less than five minutes. the Frontier supercomputer would take 10 quadrillion years. Additionally, the new quantum chip could exponentially reduce the number of errors as it uses more qubits, known as the computing unit of quantum computers.

Google Quantum AI engineers discovered that The more qubits used in Willow, the more errors are reduced and the more quantum the system becomes.. The technology company says this solves a key error correction problem that scientists have been solving for nearly three decades. Willow is considered the first subthreshold system, a designation in the field of quantum computing in which the system is able to reduce errors as the number of qubits increases.

“Quantum error correction opens the way to practical quantum computing by combining multiple physical qubits into a logical qubit, where the logical error rate decreases exponentially as more qubits are added,” Google mentions Quantum AI in a manuscript published in the journal. Nature.

Google’s New Quantum Chip Is Light Years Ahead of Classic Supercomputers

Hartmut Neven, founder and head of the quantum computing group at Google, said the results achieved with the new chip show that useful and very large quantum computers can be built. They would be capable of solving problems impossible with classical computing, and as an example, engineers set it up to compete with Frontier, the world’s most powerful supercomputer.

Google conducted the Random Circuit Sampling (RCS) test, which is considered a method for assessing the performance of quantum computers. According to first estimates, Willow can solve the RCS problem in five minutesthe same time that the Frontier would take 10 quadrillion years. “The time scale exceeds the age of the universe,” said Julian Kelly, director of hardware for Google Quantum AI.

In practical terms, Willow will pave the way for the development of quantum computers capable of solve problems requiring billions of operations. These include discovering new drugs, encryption applications, and much more that a supercomputer like Frontier cannot achieve.

Quantum computing will also play an important role in artificial intelligence. Such a computer could improve machine learning algorithms, allowing large amounts of data to be processed more efficiently. It would be fundamental for the development of general artificial intelligenceas it could optimize and simulate complex models accurately and at much greater speed than classical computing.

Progress in fixing bugs with Willow is the first step, although Google engineers note that there’s still a long way to go before achieving the goal of creating a large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer.