A new quantum computer chip by Google can solve problems in 5 minutes, which supercomputers would take 10 septillion years to solve–longer than the universe itself has existed:

If you want to write it out, it’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years.

This mind-boggling number exceeds known timescales in physics and vastly exceeds the age of the universe.

“10 septillion years on one of today’s fastest supercomputers.”

The achievement, published in Nature, marks a major step forward for quantum computing, proving it can perform tasks beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Google officially unveiled the ‘Willow, its new quantum computing chip with a promising impact on quantum computations. Willow embodies the great performance in quantum calculation speed and corrected errors in actual quantum application demonstrations.

Computations at speeds seen for the very first time EVER:

Willow has accomplished something never done before, which is the benchmark computation within five minutes, something that the fastest supercomputer in the world today would take approximately 10 septillion years to do. This performance underscores the immense potential of quantum computing in solving problems that are way beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Improved Error Correction:

One of the long-standing problems in quantum computing has involved the management of errors caused by the fragile nature of qubits. Qubits are the basic units of quantum information. What Willow does is reduce errors exponentially as the number of qubits increases-a breakthrough that has been pursued for nearly three decades in developing quantum error correction. This achievement is helpful for scaling the number of qubits without sacrificing reliability.

Technical Specifications:

Willow is a 105-qubit superconducting quantum processor developed by Google Quantum AI. It has an array of superconducting transmon qubits in a square grid, whose improvements are contributed to advanced fabrication techniques and optimization of circuit parameters. The T1 coherence time of the qubits in Willow is 100 microseconds, a fivefold improvement over its predecessor, Sycamore.

All these advancements that Willow demonstrated bring a dream of practical large-scale quantum computers one step closer to reality. These systems promise to change the world in medicine, energy, and artificial intelligence by solving some of those horrid problems too hard for classical computers.

In a nutshell, the Willow chip is a quantum computing leap forward that not only achieves unprecedented computational speeds but also increases error correction abilities. These advances are a key step toward fully realizing the promise of quantum technologies.