Google’s quantum computing lab has made a significant breakthrough with its latest chip, named Willow. This chip is able to complete a computing task in under five minutes, a feat that would take the world’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to accomplish. This achievement surpasses Google’s previous milestone in 2019, where their quantum processor solved a mathematical problem in three minutes, compared to 10,000 years on a supercomputer.
Introducing Willow, our new state-of-the-art quantum computing chip with a breakthrough that can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits, cracking a 30-year challenge in the field. In benchmark tests, Willow solved a standard computation in <5 mins that would…
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) December 9, 2024
Google’s progress in error reduction is key to this advancement, as it has been a significant challenge in quantum computing. Quantum computers use qubits instead of traditional bits, allowing them to represent multiple states simultaneously. However, qubits are susceptible to errors due to interactions with their environment.
Google has addressed this issue by increasing the number of qubits and implementing real-time error correction, achieving “below threshold” performance, which is crucial for scalable quantum computing. The research, published in Nature, represents a significant milestone since quantum error correction was first proposed in 1995.
With 105 qubits, Willow is now recognized for its “best-in-class performance.” Google’s next objective is to achieve a “useful, beyond-classical” computation that is applicable to real-world scenarios, such as AI data processing, pharmaceutical discoveries, energy-efficient battery designs, and advancements in fusion energy.
Hartmut Neven, the founder of Google Quantum AI, highlighted the potential of quantum technology in addressing critical challenges. Competing companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM are also making strides in their quantum computing systems, driving the field towards practical applications.
Filed in . Read more about Google.
