December 12, 2024 • 5 mins
Tech giant Google has unveiled its third-generation quantum chip, 'Willow'.
The chip can solve problems at remarkable speeds, and experts are considering it a significant leap forward.
Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explains what this means for investors.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Frame bridge.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Google this week unveiled its third generation quantum computing chip
called Willow, to much excitement. It's considered the fastest computer
chip ever produced and solves problems at remarkable speed. So
let's have a look at what investors are thinking about this.
Sam Dicky from Fisher Funds is with me. Sam, Good evening,
Good evening, Ryn. Give us a bit of a background here.
What is First of all, what's um quantum computing and
(00:23):
how does it differ from classical computing.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, so classical computing harnesses classical physics to process data.
So remember bits, bits of binary only one state at
a time, either a zero or one, a yes or no,
while quantum computing harnesses quantum physics. So we're the so
called cubits which are the building blocks of quantum chips,
while bits of the building blocks of normal chips. They
(00:48):
can exist in multiple states at once, so they can
be zero or one or both at once, or anything
in between. So, if you think about it in a
simplistic way, if the classical computer was so in a
jigsaw puddle puzzle, it would have to try each piece
one at a time at binary zero, one, yes or no,
whether the piece fits, while a quantum computer, when it
(01:10):
was solving the same jigsaw puzzle would try all of
the pieces all at the same time, considering all possible
solutions simultaneously. So it just means it's exponentially faster than
a classical computer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
In other words, Willow is the brainy kit in class.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's right, it's the race source, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So let's go to the new chip. Then what is
that and why is that?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
You know that?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I mean, I can understand the hype given what you've
just said, but why the hype about will Open in particular.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, So they released it two days ago and it's
making headlines because it can perform what is a sort
of a benchmark extremely complex computation used in quantum computing,
in under five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So that's a.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Task that would take the world's top classical supercomputers ten
septillion years to complete. So that's the number with twenty
four zeros, which is far longer than the age of
our universe, and Willow consulted in five minutes. And what
happened here is Google cracked it a thirty year long
struggle in quantum computing, so older quantum computing chips found
(02:15):
that the rate of error is multiplied as you added
more cubits those building blocks of quantum computing chips. But
Google figured out how to make the rate of eras
full exponentially as you scale up or add cubits.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So then absolute game changer and quantum computing.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Is it a human that is creating this or is
it a computer that's creating this?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, combination.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean it's the Google's Google Quantum AI division in
Santa Barbara.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
There's about three hundred of them. Three hundred people that
is that.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's not the computers, and obviously they're exceptionally intelligent, but
clearly using AI and generative AI and super compu classical
supercomputers to create these quantum computing chips.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Incredible stuff. What are the what do you do with
something like that? What are the applications?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Show off? No, No, I'm just.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Much faster drug discovery, potential breakthroughs, and this is all
this is coming from Satya.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I'm not Satya.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sorry, this is coming from the sea of Google potential
breakthroughs and fusion fusion energy, so the ultimate limitless clean
energy and the winners of this, I guess those at
the forefront of quantum computing the losers. It'll be interesting
if this does become commercially viable, which is still an if.
It could be companies that have made their beds developing
(03:34):
classical computer chips, like Intel or Samsung, but those companies
are just to be clear, investing in quantum computing as well.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
What does this mean for investors.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, Google's added a lazy quarter of a trillion dollars
in market cap in the two day last two days
since the announcement. And we've talked about Google before in
the show, Ryan, So remember back in March and again September,
the market was punishing the stock and calling it an
a I laggard and legacy search business as you know
Open ai and chat GPT. We're getting all that the accolades,
(04:05):
and of course that's not true. And when you take
a step back and just look at Google narrowly for
a sec, Yes, it's got its search business with ninety
seven percent market share. It's also got its generalive AI
suite of tools like Gemini, it has YouTube, It's got Google,
It's Google Cloud business growing rapidly, It's autonomous car business
way Moo, and now it's leading the field and quantum computing,
(04:26):
so it's not really clear it's a laggart in anything,
but more broadly for investors than to steal a quote
from Microsoft, quantum computing looks even more exciting than generative AI,
and that's obviously send everyone into a bit of a
frenzy in the last two years and it could be
a multi trillion dollar business. But before we get too excited,
it is very early days. Most don't think we'll see
(04:48):
commercial applications until into the twenty thirties.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
But definitely want to keep an iron right.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
And I guess the thing is weird as it all
stop right once you make will Once the AI plus
humans make Willow, what does Willow make? You know? You
almost you would struggle to think of problems that we
have for them to solve.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
But at some stage, yeah, it's a long way from that,
but yeah, I do think that's the Terminator franchise.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And no, I'm just joking.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Sam, Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Fascinating
stuff from Google, that is Sam Dicky from Fisher Funds.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to
news talks.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It'd be from four pm weekdays or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio,
Frame bridge.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Google this week unveiled its third generation quantum computing chip
called Willow, to much excitement. It's considered the fastest computer
chip ever produced and solves problems at remarkable speed. So
let's have a look at what investors are thinking about this.
Sam Dicky from Fisher Funds is with me. Sam, Good evening,
Good evening, Ryn. Give us a bit of a background here.
What is First of all, what's um quantum computing and
(00:23):
how does it differ from classical computing.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, so classical computing harnesses classical physics to process data.
So remember bits, bits of binary only one state at
a time, either a zero or one, a yes or no,
while quantum computing harnesses quantum physics. So we're the so
called cubits which are the building blocks of quantum chips,
while bits of the building blocks of normal chips. They
(00:48):
can exist in multiple states at once, so they can
be zero or one or both at once, or anything
in between. So, if you think about it in a
simplistic way, if the classical computer was so in a
jigsaw puddle puzzle, it would have to try each piece
one at a time at binary zero, one, yes or no,
whether the piece fits, while a quantum computer, when it
(01:10):
was solving the same jigsaw puzzle would try all of
the pieces all at the same time, considering all possible
solutions simultaneously. So it just means it's exponentially faster than
a classical computer.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
In other words, Willow is the brainy kit in class.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's right, it's the race source, that's right.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So let's go to the new chip. Then what is
that and why is that?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
You know that?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I mean, I can understand the hype given what you've
just said, but why the hype about will Open in particular.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, So they released it two days ago and it's
making headlines because it can perform what is a sort
of a benchmark extremely complex computation used in quantum computing,
in under five minutes.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So that's a.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Task that would take the world's top classical supercomputers ten
septillion years to complete. So that's the number with twenty
four zeros, which is far longer than the age of
our universe, and Willow consulted in five minutes. And what
happened here is Google cracked it a thirty year long
struggle in quantum computing, so older quantum computing chips found
(02:15):
that the rate of error is multiplied as you added
more cubits those building blocks of quantum computing chips. But
Google figured out how to make the rate of eras
full exponentially as you scale up or add cubits.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So then absolute game changer and quantum computing.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Is it a human that is creating this or is
it a computer that's creating this?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, combination.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I mean it's the Google's Google Quantum AI division in
Santa Barbara.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
There's about three hundred of them. Three hundred people that
is that.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's not the computers, and obviously they're exceptionally intelligent, but
clearly using AI and generative AI and super compu classical
supercomputers to create these quantum computing chips.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Incredible stuff. What are the what do you do with
something like that? What are the applications?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Show off? No, No, I'm just.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Much faster drug discovery, potential breakthroughs, and this is all
this is coming from Satya.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I'm not Satya.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Sorry, this is coming from the sea of Google potential
breakthroughs and fusion fusion energy, so the ultimate limitless clean
energy and the winners of this, I guess those at
the forefront of quantum computing the losers. It'll be interesting
if this does become commercially viable, which is still an if.
It could be companies that have made their beds developing
(03:34):
classical computer chips, like Intel or Samsung, but those companies
are just to be clear, investing in quantum computing as well.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
What does this mean for investors.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Well, Google's added a lazy quarter of a trillion dollars
in market cap in the two day last two days
since the announcement. And we've talked about Google before in
the show, Ryan, So remember back in March and again September,
the market was punishing the stock and calling it an
a I laggard and legacy search business as you know
Open ai and chat GPT. We're getting all that the accolades,
(04:05):
and of course that's not true. And when you take
a step back and just look at Google narrowly for
a sec, Yes, it's got its search business with ninety
seven percent market share. It's also got its generalive AI
suite of tools like Gemini, it has YouTube, It's got Google,
It's Google Cloud business growing rapidly, It's autonomous car business
way Moo, and now it's leading the field and quantum computing,
(04:26):
so it's not really clear it's a laggart in anything,
but more broadly for investors than to steal a quote
from Microsoft, quantum computing looks even more exciting than generative AI,
and that's obviously send everyone into a bit of a
frenzy in the last two years and it could be
a multi trillion dollar business. But before we get too excited,
it is very early days. Most don't think we'll see
(04:48):
commercial applications until into the twenty thirties.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
But definitely want to keep an iron right.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
And I guess the thing is weird as it all
stop right once you make will Once the AI plus
humans make Willow, what does Willow make? You know? You
almost you would struggle to think of problems that we
have for them to solve.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
But at some stage, yeah, it's a long way from that,
but yeah, I do think that's the Terminator franchise.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And no, I'm just joking.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Sam, Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Fascinating
stuff from Google, that is Sam Dicky from Fisher Funds.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to
news talks.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It'd be from four pm weekdays or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio,
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