Has Google made a quantum breakthrough?

The words ‘Has Google made a quantum breakthrough?’ overlaid on a lightly blurred image of white squares on a purple background representing quantum computing. Decorative: the words ‘Google’ and ‘quantum breakthrough’ are yellow, while other words are white. The ITPro podcast logo is in the bottom right corner.
(Image credit: Future)

This week, Google announced that it had made a major step forward in quantum computing with its new quantum chip Willow. The AI and search giant stated that it had successfully completed calculations that would previously have been impossible using its new piece of hardware.

In doing so, Google has taken shots at existing supercomputer infrastructure and driven excited chatter on social media – as well as worried posts about how the end of encryption is just around the corner. But how significant is this breakthrough? And what does it mean for the future of quantum computing?

In this episode, Jane and Rory recap Google’s Willow announcement and detail what its immediate and long-term implications could be.

Highlights

“What the researchers at Google are claiming is that Willow completed a calculation that would have taken Frontier 10 septillion years, which is ten to the power of 25 or ten thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand years, which is longer than the universe has been around.”

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“Actually, if you're looking at a quantum level, really anything in the world is very complex. There are infinitesimal processes going on. So he points to things like nuclear fusion – very complex. But also medicines, looking at designing more efficient batteries for electric cars.”

“As Google pointed out, every time you scale up in quantum computing, you massively increase the amount of error. So the fact that they have managed to scale up and at every stage, achieve good results is definitely worth applauding. But whether you can just draw a line on a graph from there, it's obviously far from that simple.”

Footnotes

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Rory Bathgate
Features and Multimedia Editor

Rory Bathgate is Features and Multimedia Editor at ITPro, overseeing all in-depth content and case studies. He can also be found co-hosting the ITPro Podcast with Jane McCallion, swapping a keyboard for a microphone to discuss the latest learnings with thought leaders from across the tech sector.

In his free time, Rory enjoys photography, video editing, and good science fiction. After graduating from the University of Kent with a BA in English and American Literature, Rory undertook an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies at King’s College London. He joined ITPro in 2022 as a graduate, following four years in student journalism. You can contact Rory at rory.bathgate@futurenet.com or on LinkedIn.