1 Million Qubits by 1-1-2030: An Ambitious Goal from Google, and How to get There

Google's Sycamore

Unveiling our new Quantum AI campus

Key points…

Within the decade, Google aims to build a useful, error-corrected quantum computer. This will accelerate solutions for some of the world’s most pressing problems, like sustainable energy and reduced emissions to feed the world’s growing population, and unlocking new scientific discoveries, like more helpful AI.

Already we run quantum computers that can perform calculations beyond the reach of classical computers. To continue this journey towards a useful error-corrected quantum computer and provide humanity with a new tool tuned to the way nature works, we’re assembling an amazing team to invent the future of computing together right here, right now, at Google’s Quantum AI campus.

 

To reach this goal, we’re on a journey to build 1,000,000 physical qubits that work in concert inside a room-sized error-corrected quantum computer. That’s a big leap from today’s modestly-sized systems of fewer than 100 qubits.

To get there, we must build the world’s first “quantum transistor” — two error-corrected “logical qubits” performing quantum operations together — and then figure out how to tile hundreds to thousands of them to form the error-corrected quantum computer. That will take years.

To get there, we need to show we can encode one logical qubit — with 1,000 physical qubits. Using quantum error-correction, these physical qubits work together to form a long-lived nearly perfect qubit — a forever qubit that maintains coherence until power is removed, ushering in the digital era of quantum computing. Again, we expect years of concerted development to achieve this goal.

And to get THERE(!), we need to show that the more physical qubits participate in error correction, the more you can cut down on errors in the first place — this is a crucial step given how error-prone physical qubits are. We’re doing that research right now on our Quantum AI campus.

Source:  Google AI.  Erik Lucero,  Unveiling our new Quantum AI campus…

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At The Qubit Report, our mission is to promote knowledge and opinion of quantum computing from the casual reader to the scientifically astute.  Because Quantum is Coming.

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