The chip – named Willow – is said to be capable of solving a computing problem in five minutes that would take a classical computer 10 septillion years, a number that far exceeds the age of our known universe, to complete.
Much like Microsoft and IBM, Alphabet's Google has been working on the development of quantum computing as it promises to deliver computing speeds that are far faster than today's fastest systems.
Google is hoping that quantum computers will one day be able to solve problems in medicine, battery chemistry and artificial intelligence that are out of reach for today's computers.
The new chip is about the dimensions of an After Eight mint, and has 105 "qubits," which are the building blocks of quantum computers.
Qubits are known to be error prone and as more are placed onto a chip so those errors can multiple and undermine its performance – since the1990s, scientists have been working on quantum error-correction.
Google claims that it has found a way to string together the Willow chip's qubits so that error rates go down as the number of qubits goes up. The company also says it can correct errors in real time, a key step toward making its quantum machines a practical proposition.
Google said that it tested ever-larger arrays of physical qubits, scaling up from a grid of 3x3 encoded qubits, to a grid of 5x5, to a grid of 7x7 — and each time, using its latest advances in quantum error correction, it was able to cut the error rate in half. In other words, it was able to achieve an exponential reduction in the error rate.
According to some experts we’re around five years away from quantum computing becoming powerful enough to start transforming capabilities when it comes to research and the development of new materials. Consequently, governments around the world are pouring tens of billions of dollars into research.
A number of Google's rivals are producing chips with a larger number of qubits, but Google has been focused on making more reliable qubits according to an interview given by Anthony Megrant, chief architect for Google Quantum AI.
Google fabricated its previous chips in a shared facility at the University of California, Santa Barbara, but built its own dedicated fabrication facility to produce its Willow chips.
This development will raise concerns as to the ability of these high-powered quantum computers to undermine current systems of encryption.
Responding to those concerns Charina Chou, the director and chief operating officer of Google Quantum AI, said that security experts have been working on this. “They’ve had ample time over the last many years to really figure out what the right standards should be, what post-quantum encryption should look like.”
