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Google's Willow Chip Achieves Quantum Supremacy with 105 Qubits

Dec 12, 2024, 01:52 PM

Google has introduced Willow, its latest quantum computing chip, which represents a significant advancement in quantum technology. Willow, with 105 superconducting qubits, can solve complex problems exponentially faster than classical supercomputers, completing a task in five minutes that would take the fastest supercomputer today approximately 10 septillion years. The chip also demonstrates exponential error reduction as more qubits are added, addressing a critical challenge in quantum computing. This breakthrough was achieved at Google's Quantum AI lab in Santa Barbara, California, where the chip was fabricated with superconducting integrated circuits. Willow's capabilities include real-time quantum error correction, enhancing system performance by maintaining longer lifetimes than individual physical qubits. This demonstration of quantum supremacy, through the random circuit sampling benchmark, could potentially revolutionize fields like medicine, energy, and artificial intelligence by tackling problems currently beyond the reach of classical computers.