Google shares rise as the company unveils a new quantum computing chip

Shares of Google (GOOG) rose 4% midday Tuesday after the company unveiled a new chip the day before that it says represents a breakthrough in quantum computing, an emerging technology that is expected to one day replace its traditional counterpart.

Google said in a blog post on Monday that a mathematical equation that would take a classical supercomputer longer than the entire history of the universe – 10 septillion years – to solve takes just five minutes with a quantum computer using its new Willow chip.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet rose as much as 6% early Tuesday before paring gains.

Google says the chip has eliminated a major bottleneck in quantum computing. Unlike traditional computers, which use bits or rows of 1s and 0s, quantum machines use qubits. Qubits are a function of quantum mechanics and cannot be expressed as 1 or 0, but can exist as both simultaneously, allowing far more processing possibilities.

But qubits are fragile and prone to errors. Worse, the more qubits used in an equation, the more errors they introduce. However, Google says it has managed to reduce these errors while increasing the amount of qubits used for testing – an important step in making quantum computers accurate enough for practical use.

Google isn’t the only major tech company working to make advances in quantum computing. IBM (IBM) researchers have been conducting similar research since the 1980s. Intel (INTC), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Honeywell (HON) are also players in the emerging market.

Google said quantum computing has “promising applications in many areas,” from discovering new medicines to accelerating progress in new energy alternatives to cybersecurity.

While these practical applications remain to be seen, the US government is increasing support for quantum computing research. President Donald Trump signed the National Quantum Initiative Act in 2018, promising $1.2 billion in federal funding for such projects. Under Biden, the CHIPS and Science Act authorized funding for a handful of federal quantum computing programs. Most recently, on December 3, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators introduced a bill that would reauthorize the 2018 law, promising an additional $2.7 billion for quantum computing research to develop practical applications.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is spending more than $15 billion on quantum computing research, The New York Times reported.

In a 2024 McKinsey survey, the majority of tech executives, investors and executives surveyed (72%) said that quantum computers that are “fully fault-tolerant” – those that are ready for practical use – are not Will not see the light of day until after 2035.

The story continues