Is Google's Willow a 'wow' moment for quantum tech?

Even if the hype is ignored, it's clear that digital encryption is at risk and perhaps also crypto assets

- ATANU BISWAS

Introducing Willow, our new state-of-the-art quantum-computing chip with a breakthrough that can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits, cracking a 30-year challenge in the field," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an X post on 9 December. According to Pichai, Willow, with 105 qubits, did a standard computation in less than five minutes that would take a leading conventional supercomputer over ten septillion (10 to the power of 25) years—far beyond the age of the universe—to do. The post drew an immediate "Wow" from none other than Elon Musk, which was followed by Pichai's comment: "We should do a quantum cluster in space with Starship one day." A collaborative business proposal, a clue to a superb technological innovation, or a way to increase government productivity under someone who US President-elect Donald Trump has tapped for a department of government efficiency?