MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Diya TV) — This past July, Google, through Quantum AI, made a major breakthrough in quantum computing with the launch of the Willow chip. According to the company, this chip would potentially be used for determining whether multiple universes exist, and it is an additive that tackles one of the more enduring problems in quantum computing, namely, reducing errors that occur through processing.
Because of their use of qubits instead of binary bits, quantum computers can perform multiple operations at once, unlike traditional machines. The flip side is that they experience a very high error rate when operations are scaled up. The Willow chip manages to minimize errors with every additional qubit, the very breakthrough that breaks the point where quantum computing potentially becomes close to practical real-world applications-but in several years still.
This after that came about decades of research and was considered by experts to be comparable to that from moving 1G to 2G in mobile networks. “The Willow chip can do in minutes complex tasks that would take thousands of years for traditional supercomputers,” said the Director of Google Quantum AI, Hartmut Neven. Such achievement will take effect in important areas such as pharmaceuticals and material science, where quantum computers can one day resolve the problems too complicated for classical machines.
However, experts warned that applications in the real world would remain out of reach for quite some time. The fact that the chip has become considerably better at reducing errors is indeed indicative of progress, but it will take a veiled amount of time before quantum computers will be able to scale up to levels that will truly penetrate consumer technology. Researchers are predicting that it could take a minimum of five more years before realizing the full potential of the chip.
