Google has just announced its Willow chip for quantum computing. It is faster than all existing supercomputers in the world. The Willow chip is a part of Google’s 10-year-old Quantum AI program under which the company has been developing new hardware and software in the field of quantum computing. In this guide, let’s understand the basics of quantum chips and the significance of the new Willow chip in this field.
Google Willow Quantum Chip: What is it?
The Willow chip is a custom processor developed by Google exclusively for quantum computing. This is not your regular Tensor, Snapdragon, or Dimensity chips you would see on a Pixel or any other smartphone. Both are completely different types of processors.
A normal chipset uses bits 0 and 1 to process information. Consider it a vast set of questions that can only be answered with a Yes or a No. A normal chipset like your Snapdragon 8 Elite will process millions of cycles of questions, and find the shortest route to reach the final question with the answer Yes. However, it cannot process a question for both answers simultaneously.
Quantum computing uses quantum mechanics and quantum physics to process information. In this case, it can solve for 0 and 1 bits simultaneously. For example, a quantum computer can process the same question for both Yes and No, instead of checking each answer and solving it individually. This helps to reach the final solution much faster and more efficiently.
The Willow chip is made for quantum computing. Google says it can solve a complex computational problem in five minutes, and the fastest supercomputer in the world would take 10 septillion years (that’s 10 followed by 25 zeroes) to solve the same.
The performance of a quantum chip is measured in quantum bits, also known as qubits. The Willow chip is capable of 105 qubits making it one of the most powerful quantum chips in the world. For comparison, even if you combine the performance of all the Snapdragon 8 Elite processors on the planet, it would not even reach 1% of the peak performance of the Willow chip. That is the power of quantum computing!
Where is Quantum Computing Used?
Quantum computing has applications in encryption and hashing, which is the base of the internet. You might have heard about 128-bit or 256-bit encryption, and companies highlight that it would take 1000 years to break your password using this security. But those metrics are for normal processors. A quantum computer can break this within seconds.
This is just a generalised and over-simplified example, and it’s not that easy to break encryption in the real world. But this is where quantum computing comes into the picture. Using quantum physics and mechanics, these chips help us develop encryption methods, which would normally take thousands of years to implement using regular computing methods.
Can Willow Chip Hack Bitcoin, or Any Password?
Bitcoin uses ECDSA (256-bit) and SHA-256 encryption methods on the blockchain network. It will take at least 1 million qubits to break its encryption using modern Shor’s and Grover’s algorithms. Compare that to the 105 qubits capability of the Willow chip, we are not even close.
Hence, Bitcoin and other mechanisms like banking systems, payments, and online services like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and more, are safe and protected. It’s a two-edged sword where quantum computing helps us develop stronger safety methods and can also be used to break encryption. But as of today, you are safe and there’s no need to worry about the internet getting hacked because of quantum computing.
How Will Quantum Computing and Willow Chip Affect You?
Using its Willow chip, Google can develop stronger encryption and hashing methods in the future. As technology advances, it is important to strengthen the security measures for the web to prevent hacking. For example, a modern smartphone has enough power to break encryption methods from the 1980s.
As we progress, consumer technology gadgets like phones and laptops will become more powerful. Hence, it becomes necessary to keep updating existing encryption methods. Using quantum computing, Google and other companies like IBM continue to scale the concept to new heights.
Will Willow Be Available Commercially?
The Willow chip is still in its early days, as mentioned by Google. This project aims to develop a technology for next-generation algorithms. These will be used for safety encryptions, faster load times of programming libraries, and eventually boost the performance of the servers on which the internet runs.
However, in its official blog post, Google admits the concept is being explored and as of now, humans have not fully explored the complete potential of quantum computing. Hence, it is very unlikely to see immediate results in the short term.
We shall see how this tech develops in the future and whether or not it becomes more commercial!
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