Google reveals Willow, the Quantum chip that can do the impossible

Google makes major strides in quantum computing, delivering insane benchmark scores while solving major quantum computing problems

Quantum computing has been in development for decades. It works in a fundamentally different way than traditional computers, allowing them to complete “impossible” tasks in record times and unlock a new path forward for computational technology. With Willow, Google has delivered state-of-the-art quantum computing performance and has solved two issues that have plagued the quantum computing space.

In terms of raw performance, Google claims that Willow can complete a “standard benchmark computation” task in under five minutes, while one of today’s leading supercomputers would take “1o septillion years.” If you don’t understand the “10 septillion years,” know that it is an unfathomably long time. That time is longer than the universe’s age. 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years, condensed into 5 minutes with quantum computing.

Google’s first achievement is Willow’s insane performance feat. Its second is its error correction capabilities. Google claims Willow can “reduce errors exponentially” as they scale up to more qubits. Willow is a 105-qubit quantum chip, and we need something much larger if we want to use quantum computing to solve the world’s problems. That said, if Google’s scalability claims are true, the company should be able to develop much larger quantum chips in the future.

Even with Willow, quantum computing is largely experimental. As said before, we need larger chips before we can use quantum computing to solve real-world problems. Regardless, Willow is a major step forward and one that shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Quantum computing is as scary as it is fascinating. Quantum computing, if fully realised, will make a mockery of today’s encryption systems. Tasks that are impossible for today’s PCs can be childsplay for a fully operational quantum computer.  Today’s cyber security mechanisms fall apart in a world of quantum computers. However, the benefits of these systems are huge. The speed of analysis that quantum computers provide could transform many areas of research. This includes research into medicines, nuclear power, battery design, and more. While quantum computers are likely decades away from commercialisation, real steps are being made towards making the world of quantum computing a reality.

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