Google Sees Pre-open Trading Surge

Shares of Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) increased by 4% in pre-open trading on Tuesday, showcasing investor confidence after the introduction of its new quantum computing chip, Willow. CEO Sundar Pichai presented Willow on Monday, underlining its ability to significantly reduce computational errors and its impressive performance in benchmark tests.

Pichai stressed Willow’s practical application potential, saying, "We see Willow as an important step in our journey to build a useful quantum computer with practical applications in areas like drug discovery, fusion energy, battery design, and more."

Key Milestones

According to Pichai, Willow has achieved two major milestones:
1. It can drastically reduce errors as more qubits are added, tackling a quantum error correction challenge that has lasted nearly three decades.
2. Willow completed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes, a task that would take one of the fastest current supercomputers over 10 septillion years.

This advancement aligns with Google’s long-term vision for quantum computing, which began over a decade ago, after Pichai established Google Quantum AI in 2012. The ultimate goal is to utilize quantum mechanics to foster scientific innovations and address societal challenges.

The announcement inspired a brief but impactful reaction from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who expressed his surprise with a simple, "wow," on social media platform X.

The Willow chip marks a significant progression for Google Quantum AI and brings the company closer to achieving commercially viable quantum computing applications.

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