Google claims to have developed a chip millions of times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer

 Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Washington (News International / Pakistan News - APP - December 10, 2024) The American company Google has claimed to have developed a chip that is trillions of times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer. Google says that its chip can do the work that the world's fastest supercomputer would take today in a septelium, that is, a one followed by 24 zeros, in just five minutes.

The BBC reported, citing a report published in the scientific journal Nature External, that the new chip was created by Hartmut Niven, head of Google's Quantum AI Lab. According to Google, their new chip, "Willow," incorporates the latest developments in the field of quantum computing, paving the way for the development of new, efficient quantum computers that work on a large scale.

However, experts believe that Willow is still an experimental device, which means that the invention of a quantum computer that can solve all kinds of problems is far away. Hartmut Niven, head of Google's Quantum AI Lab, says that it may take several more years to create a quantum chip that can be used in commercial applications. According to Hartmut Niven, these applications will initially be used to simulate tasks where quantum effects are important.

These include the design of nuclear fusion reactors, the manufacture of medicines, the creation of better car batteries and other tasks of this nature. He said that Willow is the best quantum computer built to date. The way quantum computers work is completely different from the computers in laptops or smartphones. These computers work many times faster than traditional computers by using quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics refers to the behavior shown by extremely small particles that are being tried to be understood. It is hoped that quantum computers will be able to take advantage of these capabilities, as a result of which quantum computers will be able to perform even the most complex tasks such as the preparation of medicines in a very short time. However, there are also concerns that these quantum computers can be used for wrong purposes such as accessing sensitive data protected by encryption.

In February this year, Apple announced that it had made Apple's iMessages encryption quantum-proof so that these messages cannot be accessed using quantum computers. Computing expert Professor Alan Woodward from the University of Surrey says that quantum computers will be able to do many tasks much better than traditional computers, but they are still not a replacement for the computers we use every day. But Alan Woodward also acknowledges that Willow is an indication of progress in quantum computing, especially error correction.

According to Professor Alan Woodward, these results are encouraging for all those who are trying to build practical quantum computers. Willow is manufactured at Google's purpose-built plant in California. Other countries around the world are also investing in quantum computers. The UK recently opened the National Quantum Computing Centre.

Michael Cuthbert, the head of the center, sees Willow more as a milestone than a breakthrough. Still, he says it is a surprising feat. He has said that one day quantum computers will help solve logistics problems such as distributing cargo on airplanes or routing telecom signals or transmitting stored energy across the national grid. Google's Willow chip requires extremely low temperatures to operate.