Quantum Computing Progress is Way Faster Than Classical Computers
Quantum Computing Progress is Way Faster Than Classical Computers
Brian Wang |
October 24, 2019 |
IBM says they could use 250 petabytes of memory and the best supercomputer to match a 53-qubit Google quantum computer on a particular problem.
Scott Aaronson notes that this clearly shows that quantum supremacy is clearly emerging.
IBM paper says the 200 Petaflop Summit at Oak Ridge National Lab with its 250 petabytes of hard disk space—one could just barely store the entire quantum state vector of Google’s 53-qubit Sycamore chip in hard disks. They could then simulate the Google quantum chip solution in ~2.5 days, more-or-less just by updating the entire state vector by brute force, rather than the 10,000 years that Google had estimated on the basis of my and Lijie Chen’s “Schrödinger-Feynman algorithm” (which can get by with less memory).
If Google, or someone else, upgraded from 53 to 55 qubits, that would apparently already be enough to exceed Summit’s 250-petabyte storage capacity. At 60 qubits, you’d need 33 Summits. At 70 qubits, enough Summits to fill a city etc…
The three-minute quantum solution versus 2.5 days is still a quantum speedup by a factor of 1200. If we compare computation. We are comparing ~5 billion quantum gates against 200 million trillion FLOPs. This is a quantum speedup by a factor of ~40 billion.
SOURCES- Scott Aaronson, Google, IBM
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a prolific business-oriented writer of emerging and disruptive technologies. He is known for insightful articles that combine business and technical analysis that catches the attention of the general public and is also useful for those in the industries. He is the sole author and writer of nextbigfuture.com, the top online science blog. He is also involved in angel investing and raising funds for breakthrough technology startup companies.
He gave the recent keynote presentation at Monte Jade event with a talk entitled the Future for You. He gave an annual update on molecular nanotechnology at Singularity University on nanotechnology, gave a TEDX talk on energy, and advises USC ASTE 527 (advanced space projects program). He has been interviewed for radio, professional organizations. podcasts and corporate events. He was recently interviewed by the radio program Steel on Steel on satellites and high altitude balloons that will track all movement in many parts of the USA.
He fundraises for various high impact technology companies and has worked in computer technology, insurance, healthcare and with corporate finance.
He has substantial familiarity with a broad range of breakthrough technologies like age reversal and antiaging, quantum computers, artificial intelligence, ocean tech, agtech, nuclear fission, advanced nuclear fission, space propulsion, satellites, imaging, molecular nanotechnology, biotechnology, medicine, blockchain, crypto and many other areas.
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