---
title: "It’s Official: Google Claims to Have Achieved Quantum Supremacy"
description: "There have been rumors going around for weeks about Google’s apparent achievement of quantum supremacy — using a quantum computer to perform a calculation faster than a regular binary computer. And today, Google has published the leaked paper officially in the journal Nature."
date: "2019-10-23"
modified: "2019-10-23"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-announces-quantum-supremacy"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Google"
  - "Physics"
  - "Quantum Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Google"
  - "quantum computers"
  - "quantum computing"
  - "the digest"
---

# It’s Official: Google Claims to Have Achieved Quantum Supremacy

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/google-announces-quantum-supremacy.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Google\</em\>*

## Quantum Supremacy

Rumors have been circulating for weeks that tech megacorporation Google has achieved quantum supremacy, meaning it's used an experimental quantum computer to perform a calculation significantly faster than a regular binary computer.

In a mysterious paper [spotted by the *Financial Times*](<https://www.ft.com/content/b9bb4e54-dbc1-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17>) on NASA's Technical Reports Server in September, Google researchers claimed to have beaten a supercomputer by a wide margin. But the paper was quickly deleted, prompting much debate about the claim’s validity.

And that brings us to today, when Google [officially published](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1666-5?utm_source=commission_junction&utm_medium=affiliate>) the paper in the prestigious journal *Nature*. In it, Google claims its Sycamore quantum computer has completed a random number generation-related calculation in just 200 seconds — a task that would take the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years, according to the tech giant.

## Game Over Classical Computers

The megacorp is clearly very proud of its achievement. Google CEO Sundar Pichai even compared it to when the Wright brothers took off on their first plane ride in 1903 in an [interview with *MIT Technology Review*](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614608/google-ceo-quantum-supremacy-interview-with-sundar-pichai/>).

Google’s biggest quantum computing competitor, IBM, is griping. In [a post](<https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2019/10/on-quantum-supremacy/>) published on Monday, IBM argued Google’s showcase didn't "account for plentiful disk storage" and other optimization methods.

Therefore, "Google’s experiment is an excellent demonstration of the progress in superconducting-based quantum computing," IBM researchers wrote, but it shouldn’t "be viewed as proof that quantum computers are ‘supreme’ over classical computers."

**READ MORE:** [Google confirms ‘quantum supremacy’ breakthrough](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/23/20928294/google-quantum-supremacy-sycamore-computer-qubit-milestone>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on quantum supremacy:** *[Google Claims to Have Achieved “Quantum Supremacy”](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-achieved-quantum-supremacy>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
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