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cover of episode (Preview) Google’s Willow Chip, Drones as a Platform and Anduril Follow-Up, Building Inside and Outside Silicon Valley

(Preview) Google’s Willow Chip, Drones as a Platform and Anduril Follow-Up, Building Inside and Outside Silicon Valley

2024/12/16
logo of podcast Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson
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Hartmut Nevin: 我很高兴地宣布我们最新的量子芯片Willow。Willow在多项指标上都具有最先进的性能,实现了两个主要成就。首先,随着我们使用更多量子比特进行扩展,Willow可以指数级地减少错误。这攻克了该领域近30年来一直在追求的关键挑战——量子纠错。其次,Willow在不到五分钟的时间内完成了一项标准基准计算,而当今最快的超级计算机完成这项计算则需要10个七百万亿亿年,这个数字远远超过了宇宙的年龄。 Ben: Willow量子芯片的突破在于其错误纠正机制。通过增加物理量子比特,可以提高逻辑量子比特的稳定性,从而实现更可靠的量子计算。虽然目前量子计算的突破对日常生活影响甚微,但其在未来,例如破解特定类型的加密算法和处理非结构化数据等领域具有重要的应用前景。目前Google进行的量子计算测试结果的可验证性存疑,其现实意义有限。Google在研发方面的投入巨大,其成果对社会和科技进步具有潜在的重大意义,但同时也引发了关于技术共享和反垄断的讨论。与苹果公司相比,谷歌的研发方向更偏向于基础科学研究,而非直接面向产品的商业化应用。无人机技术已经相当成熟,在军事领域具有重要的应用前景。 Andrew: 我认为谷歌是当今最接近贝尔实验室的科技公司,其研发投入对社会科技进步有益,但其垄断地位也存在一定的社会成本。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter delves into Google's announcement of its new quantum computing chip, Willow. It explores the technological advancements, potential real-world applications (and limitations), and compares it to classical computing. The discussion also touches upon the implications for cryptography and the broader implications of Google's massive R&D efforts.
  • Willow chip reduces errors exponentially as it scales up.
  • A benchmark computation took Willow under five minutes, while it would take the fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years.
  • The main breakthrough is the error correction mechanic enabling stable logical qubits.
  • Quantum computing has potential applications in breaking certain encryption algorithms and improving search on unstructured data.
  • The chapter concludes that while a breakthrough, Willow's real-world impact remains in the distant future.

Shownotes Transcript

A high level read on Google's quantum computing announcement and Google's R&D efforts generally, a listener's question about drones as a platform, follow-up on last week's conversation about Anduril and the future of the U.S. defense industry, and questions on the near term concerns surrounding an AI Manhattan project, Clayton Christensen’s theory of integration and modularity as applied to Silicon Valley, and housing prices in the Bay Area.

To email the show: [email protected])

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube)

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube)

Meet Willow, our state-of-the-art quantum chip — Google)

The Anduril Lattice SDK, Understanding Lattice, Anduril + Palantir — Stratechery Update)

An Interview with Gregory Allen About the Updated China Chip Ban — Stratechery Interview)

The ZTE Ban, Tech’s Trade War Risk, China’s Delayed Approval and Apple’s Pain — Stratechery Update)

Chips and Geopolitics — Stratechery)

Chips and China — Stratechery)

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus) for $15/month or $150/year.