Google says its quantum computer can do the impossible in 200 seconds

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(CNN Business) - Google says it has designed a machine that only needs 200 seconds to solve a problem that would take the world's fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to solve.

The speed achieved by the computer represents an advance called "quantum supremacy," according to a blog post by the company and an article in the scientific journal Nature .

The results announced on Wednesday announce the emergence of quantum computers, which can store and process much more information than their classic cousins ​​by harnessing the powerful forces contained in the field of physics known as quantum mechanics.

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A big difference: normal computers use data that exists in only one state at a time: one or zero. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can be simultaneously any combination of zero and one. The difference means much faster processing speeds.

Google will now try to build a "fault-tolerant quantum computer" as quickly as possible. The company sees applications in the design of light batteries for cars and airplanes, as well as in new medicines.

“Achieving the necessary computing capabilities will still require years of hard scientific and engineering work. But now we see a clear path and we are eager to move on, ”he said in the publication.

Google CEO Sunar Pichai with the company's quantum computer.

Quantum critics

The speed experiment devised by Google was criticized by some experts and rival companies after the results leaked online before its official publication date.

IBM said in a blog post on Monday that Google had overestimated the difficulty of the computing task. Instead of 10,000 years, IBM argued that the problem could be solved by a classic computer in just 2.5 days.

"We urge the community to address claims that, for the first time, a quantum computer did something that a classic computer cannot with a large dose of skepticism," said IBM.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended the company's claim in an interview with MIT Technology Review published Wednesday, comparing it to the Wright brothers' flight attempts.

"The first plane flew only for 12 seconds, so there is no practical application of that," Pichai said. "But it showed the possibility that a plane could fly."

China is considered a leader in the development of quantum computing, which could have important military applications. The United States is trying to catch up, causing fears of a quantum arms race.

Google quantum computing