Unless you have a quantum computer at home, there is a high probability that Google and NASA's quantum "child" would beat your home PC to death.
At a recent conference at the Ames Research Center, Google and NASA announced that their D-Wave quantum computer, which they bought together in 2013, has been proven to be 100 million times faster than a conventional home computer. The test, on which Google bases its claims, and which is explained in detail on the Google blog, consists of two computers processing the same optimization problem.
While traditional computers distinguish bits of data as zeros and ones, a quantum computer, on the other hand, allows those same bits to exist as zeros and ones simultaneously. Precisely this simultaneity allows users to calculate many given solutions at once, increasing speed with great energy savings.
Quantum computers are designed to solve complex optimization problems, designed to find the best solution out of all possible solutions available. To demonstrate the power of their powerful D-Wave quantum computer, Google and NASA devised a complex problem that was A/B tested between D-Wave and a single-core computer using a quantum simulator algorithm called simulated annealing.
However, not everyone is so enthusiastic about the power of D-Wave. Mathias Troyer (Mathias Troyer), a professor from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, says that the test results can be viewed in several ways: "The result is such that a speed is achieved that is 100 million times higher, but with an algorithm that is very difficult for classic processors but not for D-Wave", said Troyer, explaining that both computers actually processed the algorithm written for D-Wave, giving it an advantage at the very start compared to an ordinary PC. He adds that a traditional computer, using a different algorithm, would achieve a result that is 100 times slower than D-wave, but not 100 million times.
Be that as it may, Google directly relies on the development of quantum computers in its future projects, in order to use it to improve its search engine services.
