Google achieves ‘quantum supremacy’ with new supercomputer, but rivals are sceptical
- The quantum computer solved a complex problem in minutes that would have taken even the most powerful computer on Earth 10,000 years to crack
Alphabet’s Google said on Wednesday it achieved a breakthrough in computing research by using a quantum computer to solve in minutes a complex problem that would take today’s most powerful supercomputer thousands of years to crack.
Google researchers expect that quantum computers within a few years will fuel advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence, materials science and chemistry. The company is racing rivals including IBM and Microsoft to be the first to commercialise the technology and sell it through cloud computing units.
“We’re hoping that when people start using this and looking at performance stability and cloud interface, they’ll get really excited about what we have to offer at Google,” John Martinis, the company’s chief scientist for quantum hardware told reporters.
For decades, computer scientists have sought to harness quantum physics, laws governing the behaviour of subatomic particles that can simultaneously exist in different states – in contrast to the everyday world that people perceive.