Google unveils Willow, its new quantum chip

Willow is a quantum chip, which Google considers revolutionary. Willow”paves the way for a useful large-scale quantum computer” can we read in the official Google press release accessible from his blog. For the moment, this is only an experimental model: a quantum computer powerful enough to solve a wide range of problems is not yet available (we will have to wait a few more years – and after a few billion investment dollars).

Google wants to establish itself as a pioneer in quantum technology

But the simple fact that a chip like Willow exists is in itself a giant step towards a quantum future: according to Google, Willow would be able to solve in five minutes a problem that would take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years to be solved. solved by the fastest and most powerful computers in the world today. As a reminder, quantum technology does not act at all in the same way as the classical technology used today in a computer, even the most powerful in the world. Indeed, such a chip exploits quantum mechanics, namely the behavior of tiny particles, to solve problems much more quickly than traditional computers.

The ultimate goal is quite simple: through this unrivaled calculation speed, a quantum computer would be able to create formulas capable of generating new drugs in just a few minutes. But that's not all: the head of the Quantum department of the Google lab that created Willow, Harmut Neven, explained the potential uses of this quantum chip in the future: “for example, Willow will be relevant when designing nuclear fusion reactors, or understanding how drugs work and pharmaceutical development. Quantum technology will also be useful for developing better car batteries, but also a long list of similar complex tasks“.