Google might have wasted its cash on a quantum computer

Stefan Mileschin · 5th February 2014, 07:52

Last year boffins were shocked when Google wrote a cheque for $15 million for a quantum computer system called DWave.

Now it turns out that the device may not be all it's cracked up to be and it might not be a quantum computer after all and Google was not the only one to fall for it.

Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin paid a cool $10 million for the world's first commercial quantum computer from a Canadian start up called D-Wave Systems. Last year, Google and NASA bought a second generation device for about $15 million with Lockheed upgrading its own machine for a further $10 million.

At the time, the move was heralded as a new era for quantum computation. Particularly when last year Cathy McGeoch at Amherst College in Massachusetts said she'd clocked the D-Wave device solving a certain class of problem some 3600 times faster than a conventional computer.

But now, according to Medium.com, D-Wave has undergone a dramatic change in fortune.

http://news.techeye.net/science/goog...antum-computer

5th February 2014, 07:52	#1
Stefan Mileschin [M] Reviewer Join Date: May 2010 Location: Romania Posts: 153,514	Google might have wasted its cash on a quantum computer Last year boffins were shocked when Google wrote a cheque for $15 million for a quantum computer system called DWave. Now it turns out that the device may not be all it's cracked up to be and it might not be a quantum computer after all and Google was not the only one to fall for it. Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin paid a cool $10 million for the world's first commercial quantum computer from a Canadian start up called D-Wave Systems. Last year, Google and NASA bought a second generation device for about $15 million with Lockheed upgrading its own machine for a further $10 million. At the time, the move was heralded as a new era for quantum computation. Particularly when last year Cathy McGeoch at Amherst College in Massachusetts said she'd clocked the D-Wave device solving a certain class of problem some 3600 times faster than a conventional computer. But now, according to Medium.com, D-Wave has undergone a dramatic change in fortune. http://news.techeye.net/science/goog...antum-computer

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