Looking Into the Future of Quantum Computing

To most of us, quantum computers are an experimental technology that probably won't be fully understood or fully utilized for a long, long time. However, companies like Google, IBM, and Intel are closer to the quantum computer ideal than we might think. On March 5th at the American Physical Society, Google announced that they are testing a 72-quantum bit (or qubit) chip. Their previous was only 9 qubits, so this is quite the jump. Their goal with this chip is to achieve "quantum supremacy", which means proving that a quantum computer can perform a calculation that is impossible for current computers. Only a quantum chip of at least 50 qubits can perform the calculation. Meanwhile, IBM is testing a 50-qubit chip and Intel is testing a 49-qubit chip. The field of quantum computing is quite busy and may become a reality much sooner than previously expected.