Google says it has cracked a major challenge in quantum computing [Video]

Google on Monday said that it has overcome a key challenge in quantum computing with a new generation of chip, solving a computing problem in five minutes that would take a classical computer more time than the history of the universe.

Like other tech giants such as Microsoft and IBM, Google is chasing quantum computing because it promises computing speeds far faster than today’s fastest systems. While the maths problem solved by the company’s Santa Barbara, California quantum lab does not have commercial applications, Google hopes quantum computers will one day solve problems in medicine, battery chemistry and artificial intelligence that are out of reach for today’s computers.

The results released Monday came from a new chip called Willow that has 105 “qubits”, which are the building blocks of quantum computers. Qubits are fast but error-prone, because they can be jostled by something as small as a subatomic particle from events in outer …