Moore’s law – repeatedly sentenced to be invalid
Recently the significang technological breakthrough had happened. And its benefits would be achieveable in next few years. Due to the quantum copmuting the numerical solutions will change dramatically and it will impact our life significantly. #quantum #computing
So far the Moore’s law desrcibing well the developments regarding the speed of computational machines was valid, but at the limit of its validity. Recent achievements in 5 nm technologies of Samsung Electronics and TSMC made it still working[1]. However, there were comments regarding its usability as we have met the chipset developments boundaries [2]. For a not a first time, many people has said that the limit of Moore’s law was reached and now we cannot witness the benefits of growing computational power as fast as we used to. One of the potential remedies to keep Moore’s law active was idea of the quantum computing. However, its state of development was low and many people treat it seriously, rather as the song of the future, which would come to the reality in unspecified future. Up to now.
A short history of quantum computing
Idea of Quantum computing arose in 80ies. Since that time many developers tried to make it real. D-Wave Systems provided first 128 qubits system names as the first computer with quantum register in 2007. In 2010 Lockheed Martin bought quantum machine from D-Wave Systems. Some of the scientists claimed that D-Wave Systems solution is not a quantum computer [3], while the others were claiming that it is still quantum computer [4]. All discussions was a result of still not confirmed state of development and capabilities of new technology. Considering its unsatisfying efficiency scientists perceived it as a technology under development requiring many years of additional studies.
Recent breakthrough
However, recently the Financial Times [5] has announced that Google research team led by John Martinis have demonstrated quantum supremacy over conventional computing for the first time. Supremacy results from excellent results showing capability of performing a task that’s beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer. The excellent results was proved during the comparative tests done with Nasa supercomputer – Summit. In the past Google struck an agreement to use NASA equipment for benchmarking and recent tests confirmed predominance of its quantum computing. According to the Financial Times report, the in its publication Google said that its quantum processor was able to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today’s most advanced supercomputer as Summit, around 10,000 years. Researchers claim also that, to their knowledge, the experiment “marks the first computation that can only be performed on a quantum processor.” Unfortunately, Google has taken down this publication and do not reply for journalists questions. This gives a bit mystery of the Google developments. If it is true, it would be in my opinion a sign that many things would change in next few years. Having an access to enormous computational capabilities would be a driver to reach new levels of efficiency or solutions functionality. This would aslo keep Moore’s law still alive.
[1] TSMC and OIP Ecosystem Partners Deliver Industry’s First Complete Design Infrastructure for 5nm Process Technology (press release), TSMC, 3 April 2019
[2] https://medium.com/predict/moores-law-is-alive-and-well-adc010ea7a63
[3]Smolin., J. et al. APS March Meeting 2014 Volume 59, Number 1
[4] Perkins., R. et al., Nature Physics, March 2014
[5] https://www.ft.com/content/b9bb4e54-dbc1-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17