What can quantum computers do more efficiently than regular computers?

As quantum computers become larger and more reliable, the question of whether a quantum computer can perform calculations beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer is becoming increasingly relevant. This ability has been dubbed “quantum advantage” or “quantum supremacy” and it marks the point where quantum computers move from being scientific curiosities to useful devices. However, measuring quantum advantage is difficult as illustrated by the debate that ensued after Google Fragile qubits Quantum computers show enormous promise because they can – at least in principle – use the laws of quantum mechanics to perform some calculations much faster than even the most powerful conventional computers. Useful calculations could be done using a relatively small number of quantum bits (qubits) – hundreds or maybe thousands – but creating a quantum computer with more than a few dozen qubits is a difficult task because the quantum states used to create qubits are fragile, short-lived and difficult to control. Devices such as Google’s Sycamore are called NISQs because they have an intermediate number of qubits (Sycamore has 54) and are noisy in terms of imperfect qubit control. Another challenge for the quantum industry is that there is no agreement on the best qubit technology, with some firms opting for superconducting qubits while others are working on trapped-ion computers. Still other technologies are also under development. As a result, practical quan...

• • • • February 2, 2021 • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on Facebook • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on Twitter • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on LinkedIn • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic via Email Quantum computers are advancing rapidly and threaten to disrupt countless industries. We look at what sets them apart from conventional computers. Quantum computers will soon be able to tackle certain types of problems — especially those involving a daunting number of variables and potential outcomes, like simulating drug interactions or optimizing supply chain logistics — much faster than any classical computer. GET the 27-page quantum computing report Download the free report to learn about the the quantum computing industry landscape and how close we are to quantum supremacy. Below, we look at what makes quantum computing different from today’s commonplace “classical” computing. Some key differences between quantum computers and classical computers include: • Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way to classical computers. Instead of relying on transistors — which can only represent either the “1” or the “0” of binary information at a single time — quantum computers use qubits, which can represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously. Read our • A quantum computer’s power grows exponentially in relation to the number of qubit...

A quantum computer is a device that could exploit the weirdness of the quantum world to solve certain specific problems much faster than we know how to solve them using a conventional computer. Alas, although scientists have been working toward the goal for 20 years, we don’t yet have useful quantum computers. While the theory is now well-developed, and there’s also been spectacular progress on the experimental side, we don’t have any computers that uncontroversially use quantum mechanics to solve a problem faster than we know how to solve the same problem using a conventional computer. Zip Code Subscribe Yet some physicists are already beginning to theorize about what might lie beyond quantum computers. You might think that this is a little premature, but I disagree. Think of it this way: From the 1950s through the 1970s, the intellectual ingredients for quantum computing were already in place, yet no one broached the idea. It was as if people were afraid to take the known laws of quantum physics and see what they implied about computation. So, now that we know about quantum computing, it’s natural not to want to repeat that mistake! And in any case, I’ll let you in on a secret: Many of us care about quantum computing less for its (real but modest) applications than because it defies our preconceptions about the ultimate limits of computation. And from that standpoint, it’s hard to avoid asking whether quantum computers are “the end of the line.” Now, I’m emphatically not...

Over the years, supercomputers have played a pivotal role in pushing the frontiers of science. Earlier this year, However, the quest for something even faster than supercomputers led to the development of quantum computers. Last year, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) introduced the world’s fastest programmable superconducting quantum computer; Zuchongzhi 2.1 is a million times faster than a conventional computer. At last year’s I/O conference, Google unveiled a Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara, California, complete with a quantum data centre, quantum hardware research labs, and quantum processor chip fab facilities. The tech giant plans to build a useful, error-corrected quantum computer within a decade. Quantum computers of the future will solve complex problems faster and more efficiently than supercomputers. But does it mean supercomputers will become obsolete? Let’s find out. Evolution The first supercomputer came into existence in the 60s. However, the modern supercomputers were developed much later in the 90s. In 1997, Intel developed its first 1 teraFLOPS supercomputer, ‘ASCI red’. Today, the Fugaku supercomputer located at RIKEN Centre for Computational Science in Japan, has thrice the processing power as the world’s second-fastest computer, IBM’s Summit. The Fugaku has clocked a maximum performance of 442,010 teraFLOPs. Quantum computers, as a concept, were first proposed in the 80s by Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin. ​​In 1998, Isaac Chua...

Any day now, quantum computers will solve a problem too hard for a classical computer to take on. Or at least, that’s what we’ve been The short answer is that controlling the quantum properties of particles is hard. And even if we could use them to compute, “quantum supremacy” is a misleading term. The first quantum supremacy demonstration will almost certainly be a contrived problem that won’t have a practical or consumer use. Nonetheless, it’s a crucial milestone when it comes to benchmarking these devices and establishing what they can actually do. So what’s holding us back from the future? What the Hell Is a Quantum Computer and How Excited Should I Be? They will never sit on your desk, and they will most certainly never fit in your pocket. Today,… “We’re about to cross over into a world where we’re doing something with quantum devices that we couldn’t do classically,” John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology who devised the term “quantum supremacy,” told Gizmodo. “We’re at a pivotal stage.” You might first wonder inputs, which they manipulate via a system of instructions and mathematical algorithms. Typically, the data is stored as manipulatable bits, two-choice physical devices, allowing systems of these bits to produce some desired output. On quantum computers, algorithms are mapped onto a different kind of architecture; instead of bits, there are two-choice devices called qubits that obey the weird rules of quantum m...

In this article Quantum computing holds the promise of solving some of our planet's biggest challenges - in the areas of environment, agriculture, health, energy, climate, materials science, and more. For some of these problems, classical computing is increasingly challenged as the size of the system grows. When designed to scale, quantum systems will likely have capabilities that exceed those of today's most powerful supercomputers. As the global community of quantum researchers, scientists, engineers, and business leaders collaborate to advance the quantum ecosystem, we expect to see quantum impact accelerate across every industry. Azure Quantum now the ability to mix classical and quantum computation and unlock a new generation of hybrid algorithms, bringing research and experimentation with the current generation of quantum computers into a new and exciting phase. The For more information about the beginnings and motivation of quantum computing, see Learn how to create an Tip Free trial. If you don’t have an Azure subscription, you can What can quantum computing and Azure Quantum be used for? A quantum computer isn't a supercomputer that can do everything faster. In fact, one of the goals of quantum computing research is to study which problems can be solved by a quantum computer faster than a classical computer and how large the speedup can be. Quantum computers do exceptionally well with problems that require calculating a large number of possible combinations. These...

As quantum computers become larger and more reliable, the question of whether a quantum computer can perform calculations beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer is becoming increasingly relevant. This ability has been dubbed “quantum advantage” or “quantum supremacy” and it marks the point where quantum computers move from being scientific curiosities to useful devices. However, measuring quantum advantage is difficult as illustrated by the debate that ensued after Google Fragile qubits Quantum computers show enormous promise because they can – at least in principle – use the laws of quantum mechanics to perform some calculations much faster than even the most powerful conventional computers. Useful calculations could be done using a relatively small number of quantum bits (qubits) – hundreds or maybe thousands – but creating a quantum computer with more than a few dozen qubits is a difficult task because the quantum states used to create qubits are fragile, short-lived and difficult to control. Devices such as Google’s Sycamore are called NISQs because they have an intermediate number of qubits (Sycamore has 54) and are noisy in terms of imperfect qubit control. Another challenge for the quantum industry is that there is no agreement on the best qubit technology, with some firms opting for superconducting qubits while others are working on trapped-ion computers. Still other technologies are also under development. As a result, practical quan...

Over the years, supercomputers have played a pivotal role in pushing the frontiers of science. Earlier this year, However, the quest for something even faster than supercomputers led to the development of quantum computers. Last year, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) introduced the world’s fastest programmable superconducting quantum computer; Zuchongzhi 2.1 is a million times faster than a conventional computer. At last year’s I/O conference, Google unveiled a Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara, California, complete with a quantum data centre, quantum hardware research labs, and quantum processor chip fab facilities. The tech giant plans to build a useful, error-corrected quantum computer within a decade. Quantum computers of the future will solve complex problems faster and more efficiently than supercomputers. But does it mean supercomputers will become obsolete? Let’s find out. Evolution The first supercomputer came into existence in the 60s. However, the modern supercomputers were developed much later in the 90s. In 1997, Intel developed its first 1 teraFLOPS supercomputer, ‘ASCI red’. Today, the Fugaku supercomputer located at RIKEN Centre for Computational Science in Japan, has thrice the processing power as the world’s second-fastest computer, IBM’s Summit. The Fugaku has clocked a maximum performance of 442,010 teraFLOPs. Quantum computers, as a concept, were first proposed in the 80s by Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin. ​​In 1998, Isaac Chua...

• • • • February 2, 2021 • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on Facebook • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on Twitter • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic on LinkedIn • Share Quantum Computing Vs. Classical Computing In One Graphic via Email Quantum computers are advancing rapidly and threaten to disrupt countless industries. We look at what sets them apart from conventional computers. Quantum computers will soon be able to tackle certain types of problems — especially those involving a daunting number of variables and potential outcomes, like simulating drug interactions or optimizing supply chain logistics — much faster than any classical computer. GET the 27-page quantum computing report Download the free report to learn about the the quantum computing industry landscape and how close we are to quantum supremacy. Below, we look at what makes quantum computing different from today’s commonplace “classical” computing. Some key differences between quantum computers and classical computers include: • Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way to classical computers. Instead of relying on transistors — which can only represent either the “1” or the “0” of binary information at a single time — quantum computers use qubits, which can represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously. Read our • A quantum computer’s power grows exponentially in relation to the number of qubit...

A quantum computer is a device that could exploit the weirdness of the quantum world to solve certain specific problems much faster than we know how to solve them using a conventional computer. Alas, although scientists have been working toward the goal for 20 years, we don’t yet have useful quantum computers. While the theory is now well-developed, and there’s also been spectacular progress on the experimental side, we don’t have any computers that uncontroversially use quantum mechanics to solve a problem faster than we know how to solve the same problem using a conventional computer. Zip Code Subscribe Yet some physicists are already beginning to theorize about what might lie beyond quantum computers. You might think that this is a little premature, but I disagree. Think of it this way: From the 1950s through the 1970s, the intellectual ingredients for quantum computing were already in place, yet no one broached the idea. It was as if people were afraid to take the known laws of quantum physics and see what they implied about computation. So, now that we know about quantum computing, it’s natural not to want to repeat that mistake! And in any case, I’ll let you in on a secret: Many of us care about quantum computing less for its (real but modest) applications than because it defies our preconceptions about the ultimate limits of computation. And from that standpoint, it’s hard to avoid asking whether quantum computers are “the end of the line.” Now, I’m emphatically not...