D-Wave says it achieved ‘quantum supremacy,’ using a computer to solve a problem that would otherwise take a million years

D-Wave is about to make waves.

The quantum computing firm announced on Wednesday that, for the first time, it was able to “successfully simulate the properties of magnetic materials” using its Advantage2 annealing quantum computer, which “allows us to invent and evaluate new materials without needing to build them in the lab,” D-Wave CEO Dr. Alan Baratz tells Fast Company.

In effect, this means that D-Wave has achieved “quantum supremacy” on a useful problem, something it says nobody else has yet been able to accomplish, and which is detailed in a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Science.

“This is a really important moment in time for the entire quantum computing industry,” says Dr. Baratz. “For the first time ever, we’ve demonstrated a quantum computer being able to solve a difficult, real-world problem that classical computers can’t solve. It’s what everybody aspired to achieve, and we’re quite excited about it.”

’25 years of hardware development’

Quantum computing has largely remained theoretical until recently, but D-Wave’s achievement is a notable breakthrough as it’s demonstrated that its quantum computer can, in fact, outperform classical computers in materials simulations.

To simulate the property of magnetic materials on a classical computer—as the D-Wave team recently did using its quantum computer—would require nearly one million years, and more energy than the entire world utilizes over the course of a year. D-Wave’s team did it in 20 minutes. 

But there was a lot of work that went into it.

“These are results that could not be done in a couple of months or years,” says Mohammad Amin, chief scientist at D-Wave.

He added, the results “are really the results of 25 years of hardware development,” and this specific achievement “also took two years of collaboration among 11 institutions worldwide.”

What this means going forward

Dr. Seth Lloyd, professor of quantum mechanical engineering at MIT, said in a statement with D-Wave’s announcement that large-scale, “fully error corrected” quantum computers are still years away. But quantum annealers, a type of quantum computer designed to efficiently solve optimization problems, are useful in the here and now.

“The D-Wave result shows the promise of quantum annealers for exploring exotic quantum effects in a wide variety of systems,” Lloyd said.

According to D-Wave, scientists could use quantum computing to test out and simulate new materials—specifically, those used in all sorts of technologies from pacemakers to cellphones. Many of these materials need to be synthesized in a lab, which takes considerable amounts of time and money.

But the ability to simulate the materials before they’re actually created? That can allow for significant resource savings, and potentially speed up technology development and make numerous products more efficient.

“There’s no shortage of potential applications,” says Amin.

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