Google Quantum AI's Neven (left) and Anthony Megrant examine a cryostat refrigerator for cooling quantum computing chips at Google's Quantum AI lab in Santa Barbara, California, US. — Reuters
Alphabet Inc’s quantum computer needs just five minutes to solve a problem that would take supercomputers around 10 septillion years. Google’s next task: coming up with an actual use for all that theoretical power.
Google said its computer using the new Willow quantum chip beat the Frontier supercomputer in running a benchmark algorithm, doing in minutes what would take Frontier 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years – far longer than the age of the universe. That’s exponentially faster than Google’s stated performance five years ago, when it said it could solve a 10,000-year task in minutes.