The difference between quantum computers and supercomputers

Computers have come an incredibly long way in the past few decades. We are in the midst of a technological revolution, with machines becoming more and more advanced as the years go by. Two particularly advanced inventions, supercomputers and quantum computers, have many applications and potential. But what is the difference between a supercomputer and a quantum computer, and which is better? Let's find the answer in the following article!

What is a supercomputer?

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Supercomputers are giant systems that can span entire rooms. These machines look nothing like your typical desktop or laptop computer. Rather, supercomputers consist of large groups of processors, all working together to achieve a specific goal.

Supercomputers first appeared in the 1960s, after the CDC (Control Data Corporation) 6600 was born. This is considered the first supercomputer ever built and was about 10 times more powerful than standard computers at the time. But things have come a very long way since then.

It must be said that today's supercomputers are extremely powerful. But, of course, it's all relative. The CDC 6600 was a phenomenon in the computer field but today would be considered nothing special. After all, it only took half a decade for the CDC 7600 to surpass it. So keep that in mind when considering the power of today's supercomputers.

Like your own PC, supercomputers can process and store data, but go beyond that. These machines can perform extremely complex calculations and simulations that humans or the computers we use in our daily lives could never achieve. They can also quickly perform processes that would take a conventional computer months or years to complete.

For example, a modern supercomputer can predict the outcome of a nuclear explosion, create highly complex brain models, and even perform simulations of the origin of the universe. The capabilities of these machines are somewhat astonishing and have proven useful in a wide range of different industries.

However, at its core, supercomputers have the same nuts and bolts as regular computers. The difference is that these computers are very large and consist of thousands or hundreds of thousands of CPUs (central processing units), and thus have a lot more processing power than standard PCs. The computer you use every day probably has a handful of CPU cores, some even have just one. So imagine what could be achieved if its power were increased many times over.

Supercomputers are exciting but extremely expensive to build and maintain. Millions of dollars can be poured into building a supercomputer, and the amount of power required to keep them running is also extremely huge.

And even these extremely advanced machines have their limitations. In particular, the capabilities of supercomputers are limited by their size. Today's supercomputers are very large and cost a lot of money to operate. Therefore, the larger the supercomputer, the more expensive it is.

On top of that, supercomputers generate large amounts of heat that must be removed to avoid overheating the system. In general, using supercomputers is a very expensive process. Additionally, there are some problems that supercomputers simply cannot solve because they are too complex.

However, a relatively new player in computing may have the ability to surpass supercomputers and achieve something they cannot: Quantum computers.

What is a quantum computer?

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The concept of quantum computing first emerged in the 1980s. During this time, pioneers such as Richard Benioff, Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin contributed to the development of quantum computing theory. But at this point, quantum computing is just an idea and has never been applied in a real-world context.

18 years later, in 1998, Isaac Chuang, Neil Gershenfeld and Mark Kubinec created the first quantum computer. The processing speed of this computer is quite rudimentary compared to today's most advanced quantum computers, but the development of this first machine is nothing short of revolutionary.

As you can see in the image above, quantum computers look nothing like regular computers. This is because they work in different ways. While computers and supercomputers use binary code to store information, quantum computers use microscopic units called qubits (or quantum bits).

Qubits are unimaginably small. They are made from even smaller quantum systems, such as protons and electrons, the basic components of atoms. The great thing about qubits is that they can exist in multiple states at once.

Binary codes can only exist as 0s or 1s, which can be limiting when performing advanced processes. Qubits, on the other hand, can exist in multiple states simultaneously, known as quantum superposition. Qubits can also achieve quantum entanglement, where pairs of qubits are interconnected.

Using quantum superposition, quantum computers can consider multiple qubit configurations at once, making solving highly complex problems much easier. And, through quantum entanglement, two qubits can exist in the same state and influence each other in mathematically predictable ways. This contributes to the processing power of quantum computers.

Overall, the ability to consider multiple states simultaneously gives quantum computers the potential to solve extremely complex calculations and run advanced simulations.

Many companies are currently working on developing quantum computers, including IBM and Google. For example, according to New Scientist, in 2019, Google announced that its quantum computer, Sycamore, had surpassed a supercomputer in capabilities. Google claims that, in 200 seconds, Sycamore can solve a calculation that would take a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.

But just two years later, again, according to New Scientist, a non-quantum algorithm was developed in China that makes it possible for conventional computers to solve the same problem in just a few hours, which means a Supercomputers are certainly capable of solving it.

So there's a big "if" encompassing the entire field of quantum computing. The technology is still very much in its early stages and has a long way to go before it can be used as an alternative to supercomputers.

Quantum computers are extremely difficult to build and program and still have high error rates. On top of that, the current processing power of quantum computers makes them completely unsuitable for typical applications. As a result, there are many growing pains that quantum computing must go through before becoming a widely used and reliable technology.

Although quantum computers have the potential to surpass supercomputers with ease, this remains largely hypothetical. One day, we may see quantum computing advance to the point where supercomputers are no longer necessary. It cannot be denied that tremendous developments have been made in this field. But for now, quantum computers are still in their early stages and it may take decades for them to become mainstream.

Samuel Daniel

Update 30 October 2023