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Google Quantum Chip Beats Supercomputer 13,000-Fold, Accelerates Drug Discovery

5/18/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Nobel laureate Michel H. Devoret, who joined Google in 2023, and Google’s Santa Barbara lab reported that their quantum computer ran a new algorithm 13,000 times faster than a top classical supercomputer.
The algorithm is intended to speed drug discovery, new building-material design, and other research fields.
Researchers said that larger quantum computers in the future could perform calculations impossible for classical algorithms.

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Story summary

Nobel laureate Michel H. Devoret, who joined Google in 2023, and Google’s Santa Barbara lab reported that their quantum computer ran a new algorithm 13,000 times faster than a top classical supercomputer.
The algorithm is intended to speed drug discovery, new building-material design, and other research fields.
Researchers said that larger quantum computers in the future could perform calculations impossible for classical algorithms.