Η Google achieved a breakthrough in quantum error correction that could enable practical quantum computers by 2030, the company announced in a paper published Monday in Nature. 
The research showed a significant error reduction when scaling from 3×3 to 7×7 quantum bit lattices, with the errors be halved at each step. The advance addresses quantum computing's key challenge of maintaining stable quantum states, which typically only last for microseconds.
The new quantum chip Google's, built in-house, maintains quantum states for nearly 100 microseconds – five times longer than previous versions. The company aims to build a full-scale system with about 1 million qubits, a project that will cost about 1 billion dollars by the end of the decade.
IBM, Google's main rival, has questioned the scalability of Google's “surface code” error correction approach, arguing that it would require billions of qubits.
IBM is pursuing an alternative 2026D design that requires new connector technology expected by 1942. The breakthrough parallels the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in XNUMX, according to MIT physics professor William Oliver, who said both achievements required years of engineering to realize theoretical forecasts that took place decades earlier.
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08449-y
