Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai geek out over Google’s new quantum chip, Willow

Google’s quantum chip, Willow, has sent ripples through the tech world. Unveiled on Monday, the chip was able to solve a mind-boggling problem in under five minutes — a task so complex it would take a classical computer 10 septillion years (yes, that’s a 1 followed by 25 zeros). This monumental leap in quantum computing, developed at Google’s Santa Barbara lab, marks a bold step toward the future of technology.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, proudly announced this milestone on his X (formerly Twitter) account, describing Willow as a “state-of-the-art quantum chip” capable of scaling up while reducing errors — a feat considered nearly impossible until now.

Cue Elon Musk, who swooped in with his signature one-word reaction: “Wow.” But the conversation didn’t stop there. Pichai casually floated the idea of building a “quantum cluster in space” with Musk’s Starship, to which Musk replied, “That will probably happen.”

Ever the futurist, Musk veered the discussion into Kardashev’s Type II civilisations, solar panels in deserts, and humanity’s crawl toward harnessing global energy. Pichai chimed back, advocating for scaling up solar energy instead of endlessly chasing alternatives.

In true tech-titan style, the exchange turned into a nerdy brainstorm session — equal parts ambitious and intriguing. While the world marvels at Willow’s quantum prowess, Musk and Pichai seem ready to take computing (and humanity) to interstellar heights. Quantum clusters in space? Who wouldn’t “wow” at that?

The Willow chip represents a groundbreaking step in overcoming one of quantum computing’s biggest challenges: error correction. Equipped with 105 qubits — the essential building blocks of quantum computation — Willow is designed to harness the incredible speed of qubits while addressing their vulnerability to tiny disturbances, like subatomic particles, which often lead to errors. Traditionally, increasing the number of qubits on a chip worsens these issues, limiting performance.

However, Google’s innovative approach with Willow has flipped the script. By carefully linking the chip’s qubits, the tech giant managed to reduce error rates as the qubit count increased — a feat long considered a major hurdle in the field. Even more impressive, Google claims it can now correct these errors in real time, a crucial development in making quantum computers practical for solving real-world problems.

“We are past the break-even point,” said Hartmut Neven, head of Google Quantum AI, emphasising the milestone. With this achievement, Willow could pave the way for quantum computing to tackle challenges in fields like medicine, artificial intelligence, and energy optimisation — domains where classical computers fall short.

As Google edges closer to unlocking the true potential of quantum machines, its futuristic ambitions, like Sundar Pichai’s vision of quantum clusters in space, might just become reality.