Radical Breakthrough In Quantum Computing With New Chip

The new quantum chip solved a complex computational problem in just five minutes an operation that would take a classical computer longer than the age of the universe to complete.

Quantum computing pursued by tech leaders like Google, Microsoft and IBM promises to revolutionise problem-solving speeds far beyond what todays most advanced classical computers can achieve. While the specific problem solved by Googles quantum team in Santa Barbara doesnt yet have practical applications, the breakthrough paves the way for tackling real-world challenges in medicine, energy storage and artificial intelligence AI that remain beyond current computational capabilities.

At the heart of this development is Willows 105 qubits the essential units of quantum computing. Qubits are extraordinarily fast but inherently unstable as they are vulnerable to disturbances as minor as subatomic interactions. This instability results in computational errors and, as the number of qubits increases, so does the likelihood of those errors accumulating. To address this, researchers have spent decades developing quantum error correction techniques.

Googles recent success lies in demonstrating that linking qubits together on the Willow chip reduces error rates even as more qubits are added. Moreover, the system can correct errors in real time, marking a pivotal step toward making quantum machines not only powerful but also reliable. Hartmut Neven, Head of Google Quantum AI, emphasised the significance of this milestone We are past the break-even point.

This achievement builds on a contentious claim Google made in 2019 when it announced that its quantum chip had solved a problem in seconds that would take a classical computer 10 000 years. That claim faced scepticism from IBM, which argued that the problem could be solved in two-and-a-half days using a different approach. In its latest findings, Google revised its methodology to account for such critiques, asserting that, even under ideal conditions, a classical computer would take a billion years to replicate the results produced by Willow.