Univ. of Chicago joins University of Tokyo to create first quantum supercomputer

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two universities, including one in Chicago, are joining forces to develop what would be the most powerful computer in the world.

It's a partnership that was recently announced at the G7 Summit and the expectations are pretty super. CBS 2's Andrew Ramos explains.

From climate change to complex chemical reactions, supercomputers have been on the forefront of addressing some of the world's most pressing problems.

Now, a new global partnership is aiming to create the first ever quantum supercomputer, which would usher in a new age of innovation.

The University of Chicago will join forces with the University of Tokyo to build what would be the world's most powerful computer as part of a 10 year, $150 million initiative funded by IBM and Google, recently announced at the G7 summit in Japan.

"The Chicago area is really becoming sort of a world leader in this area."

Fred Chong is a computer science professor at the University of Chicago, and he said this type of innovation will have a significant impact on lives everywhere.

"It's really going to be able to solve problems problems that we can't even approach today," Chong said. "Certain problems on a quantum scale like understanding materials of chemistry, but also UPS trucks like scheduling UPS trucks or flights on an airline."

Over the next decade, researchers at both universities will build this super computer powered by 100,000 qubits, which is the basic unit of information in computing.

Currently, the industry standard is roughly 430 qubits. The goal is to first reach 1,000 then 10,000 and ultimately 100,000 -- which will be a collaborative effort between both universities.

"Already IBM has a 433 qubit machine so we will be building upon their technology and googles technology to come up with ways of using these machines," Chong said.

This partnership is set to kick off in the next couple of weeks, where we could actually start seeing breakthroughs in as early as two to three years.

In:
• Chicago
• University of Chicago