Google may be leading the way in quantum computing

New Scientist : Last month, engineers at Google published a paper revealing a plan to develop the first quantum computer capable of performing operations that classical computers cannot. Google engineers have chosen the task of simulating the behavior of a random arrangement of quantum circuits. They performed one such calculation on Edison, a classical supercomputer at the US National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, and found that calculating the possible behaviors of a 6 × 7 grid of qubits required 70 TB of memory. Google’s team believes that it can accomplish the feat with a 50-qubit quantum computer in significantly less time. Outside analysts say Google is the company most likely to make a step forward. The company has already demonstrated a 9-qubit computer, so a 50-qubit machine is not considered out of reach.