Google unveils new quantum chip with speed breakthrough

Google's quantum computer needs just five minutes to solve a problem that would take supercomputers around 10 septillion years.

The firm's next task: coming up with an actual use for all that theoretical power.

Google said its computer using the new Willow quantum chip beat the Frontier supercomputer in running a benchmark algorithm, doing in minutes what would take the Frontier 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years - far longer than the age of the universe.

That is exponentially faster than Google's stated performance in 2019, when it said it could solve a 10,000-year task in minutes.

The algorithm, designed to test the quantum computer's capabilities, has no known useful applications, but that is beside the point, said Dr. Hartmut Neven, founder of Google Quantum AI.

"If you cannot win at least on a problem, you won't win on a useful problem."