Google announced its latest quantum computing chip, known as Willow and it’s not just another addition to the Quantum AI lab at Google; it really speaks to a monumental leap forward in the technology of quantum computing.
Willow is a 105-qubit quantum processor, which is considered the basic unit of quantum information. Unlike classical bits, which can only have states labeled 0 and 1, qubits could take many states at one time and execute complex computations utterly impossible for classical computers.
Developed within Google’s dedicated facility at Santa Barbara, Willow works with superconducting materials operating at ultra-low temperatures to help keep fragile quantum states for processes.
One of the most significant achievements of Willow is its breakthrough in quantum error correction. While, conventionally, error rates increase with more qubits added to a quantum system, presenting a significant barrier to researchers, Willow has demonstrated an exponential reduction in error rates as qubit numbers scale up feat that has been elusive for nearly three decades. This allows Willow to operate beneath the so-called quantum error correction threshold, the regime where quantum systems can become more reliable and scalable.
Hartmut Neven, leader of Google’s Quantum AI Lab, likened it to going from a single-engine airplane to a four-engine aircraft—so much safer and more robust. This invention not only increases the reliability of quantum computations but also sets new requirements for future developments in this field.
Willow’s performance metrics are nothing short of astonishing. In internal benchmark tests using the random circuit sampling (RCS) benchmark, Willow completed a computational task in under five minutes—a task that would take one of the fastest classical supercomputers approximately ten septillion – or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years to accomplish.
To put this into perspective, this timeframe far exceeds the estimated age of the universe itself!
This incredible speed cements Willow’s status as a front-runner in quantum computing and outpaces Google’s predecessor processor, Sycamore-which could solve a problem in 200 seconds that would take classical computers roughly 10,000 years to do.
While Willow’s achievements are groundbreaking, practical applications are still on the horizon, experts caution that while these advances may be promising, actual commercial applications may be later this decade. When they do arrive, though, they have huge potential across many industries.
In the realm of artificial intelligence, for example, Willow has the potential to highly advance machine learning algorithms and the processing of data. It can enable much better simulation of complex biological systems than hitherto possible in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
Quantum computing could transform energy systems and fast-track research into fusion energy, which for so long has been restricted by classical computational limitations.
