On December 9, 2024, Google shows the company’s new quantum computing chip “Willow.” Google said the chip was a major breakthrough that could bring practical quantum computing closer to reality. “Willow” does in minutes what it would take leading supercomputers 10 septillion years to complete, according to Google Quantum AI founder Hartmut Neven.
Progress in quantum computing appears to be accelerating, with some now predicting commercial quantum computers and major scientific breakthroughs within a few years, thanks to increasing investment from cloud giants, many startups, and even banks and pharmaceutical companies.
– Qubits –
Classical computing relies on data stored in the form of bits, which have only two possible states (0 or 1).
Quantum computing uses “qubits”, basic building blocks that have an infinite number of possible states that can overlap and become entangled.
And each additional qubit theoretically doubles the total computing capacity, leading to exponential growth in the power of quantum computers.
They can thus simultaneously analyze an enormous number of potential results, and carry out calculations in a few minutes instead of millions of years.
“Classical machines don’t speak the right language. In quantum, we’re sort of speaking the language of nature,” says John Levy, head of SEEQC, a start-up that develops hybrid chips. “It allows us to solve all sorts of problems that were previously insoluble.”
In mid-February, Microsoft presented a quantum technology, based on a new state of matter, not solid, gaseous or liquid, discovered by its researchers.
“They should win a Nobel Prize,” enthuses John Levy.
– Applications –
New technology must radically accelerate the discovery of new molecules and materials, to develop new drugs, new tissues, complex financial models or even much more efficient batteries.
Anders Indset, a philosopher and investor, predicts a “race for efficiency” in all industries, from agriculture to housing and transport: “We will have hyper-efficient and much lighter cars. We will develop cheaper and less polluting ways to travel through the air.”
Just as no one imagined in the early days of computing in the 1940s that we would one day have smartphones that could order a chauffeured car with the click of a button, the potential of quantum computing is beyond our “limited imagination,” according to John Levy.
Especially coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), already considered a new industrial revolution since the emergence of ChatGPT.
“We humans process information in a probabilistic way, unconsciously,” and not in a deterministic way (0 or 1), the engineer emphasizes.
“When we have probabilistic AI models, built on chips that are also probabilistic, we will have a more human result” than current chatbots, he thinks.
Quantum computing is thus sometimes considered the only way to achieve a so-called “super intelligent” AI, with superior cognitive abilities and better able to understand us.
– Actors and errors –
Several quantum computers are already operational, and IBM recently assured CNBC that its quantum computing services have already earned it a billion dollars.
But these are still very limited use cases, mainly related to research. It remains “a niche technology, among the most esoteric,” says Jacob Bourne, an analyst at Emarketer.
When it is more mature, the quantum computing market will first go through servers with the chips and systems adapted for new applications.
It is no coincidence, then, that the three cloud behemoths, Amazon, Microsoft and Google, are investing to solve a major problem in the technology: computational errors.
Because qubits, which need freezing temperatures, are very sensitive to “noise”, that is, to the slightest changes in their environment (vibrations, heat, electromagnetic interference, etc.). These disturbances cause errors.
In December, Google released Willow, a quantum chip that’s supposed to dramatically reduce them.
And AWS (Amazon) has just presented Ocelot, its semiconductor prototype which promises to reduce error correction costs by up to 90%.
According to John Levy, we are witnessing the “creation of an ecosystem” of companies, from components to operating systems, sensors and applications.
He points out that the German pharmaceutical company Merck is investing in his company, so as not to be left behind in potential future tools.
– Cybersecurity –
The United States and China are also investing, and Washington has imposed restrictions on exports related to this technology.
It’s not just about competitiveness: because qubits make it possible to test all sorts of combinations simultaneously, the technology poses a threat to cybersecurity.
Experts worry that it could soon allow adversaries to break traditional encryption methods.
Some US government agencies and companies like Apple are already designing “post-quantum” encryption methods.