Are there real-world applications?
Not at the moment, Google acknowledged.
It said it is “optimistic” that the Willow generation of chips can help move the field towards a first “useful, beyond-classical” computation that is relevant to a real-world application.
“On the one hand, we’ve run the RCS benchmark, which measures performance against classical computers but has no known real-world applications,” said the company.
“On the other hand, we’ve done scientifically interesting simulations of quantum systems, which have led to new scientific discoveries but are still within the reach of classical computers.”
The goal is to do both at the same time – to solve algorithms that are beyond the reach of conventional computers and that are useful in the real world.
To the layman, this could take the form of discovering new medicines, designing more efficient batteries for electric cars, or accelerating progress in fusion and new energy alternatives, said Google.
“Many of these future game-changing applications won’t be feasible on classical computers; they’re waiting to be unlocked with quantum computing,” the company added.
Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder wrote on X that “while the announcement is super impressive from a scientific point-of-view (POV) and all, the consequences for everyday life are zero”.
“Estimates say that we will need about 1 million qubits for practically useful applications and we’re still about 1 million qubits away from that,” she added.
What are the challenges in quantum computing?
Mainstream adoption of quantum computing has been hindered by issues of scalability, hardware limitations, high costs and accessibility.
Another difficulty lies in the construction of quantum computer hardware.
Google’s Willow chip is based on technology that requires intense cooling, which could be a limiting factor in scaling up.
“It may be fundamentally hard to build quantum computers … as cooling so many qubits to the required temperature – close to absolute zero – would be hard or impossible,” Winfried Hensinger, professor of quantum technologies at the University of Sussex, told CNBC.
