I'm very interested to hear more about the U of M and Los Alamos Lab project. With Google rolling out "Willow" its new quantum computing chip it seems a truly massive leap forward in quantum computing has been made.
Implications for are quite terrifying for those not prepared or perhaps all of us as it were. "Quantum computing has the potential to crack cryptographic algorithms that secure cryptocurrencies, exposing private keys used to access crypto funds held in wallets". As for National Security with the exception of the most classified data just about everything would be fair game, gaining passwords, schedules and other private information of highly placed government officials would tell a bad actor a great deal. Following that chain of logic our financial system and key corporate proprietary data could be easily hacked and manipulated.
It's not the end of the world apparently Amazon for example has been planning since 2019 I believe it was to operate securely in a world where quantum technology has proliferated. So at least you can get your package on time and always have a job waiting at a fulfillment center when a bad actor or a rouge state decides to crash our financial market during a major international crisis
All jokes aside that the private sector has started to up armor itself in preparation is a sign that the government has taken this threat seriously and are taking steps to safeguard at least certain sectors of the economy.
As for a regional take the Willow Run to Metro Airport Corridor has long been a desired site to create a concentration of cutting-edge technology. That some of the foremost AI research both civilian and classified if we believe what is being told about the classified facility is to be done here is a big boost for the local and state technological ecosystem. I also think it's kind of cool that the chip that reached the below threshold is called Willow and the facilities are being built next to Willow Run. Neat symmetry harkening back to the massive WW2 technological lead and one of the nation's foremost manufacturing facilities, though it seems coincidental.
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Quantum computers are inherently "noisy," meaning that, without error-correction technologies, every one in 1,000 qubits — the fundamental building blocks of a quan computer — fails.
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This high error rate is one of the key barriers to scaling up these machines so they are good enough to perform far better than the fastest supercomputers. This is why research has centered on building quantum computers with better and less error-prone — not simply more — qubits.
Google says its new quantum processing unit (QPU), dubbed "Willow," is the first in the world to achieve results that are "below threshold" — a milestone outlined by computer scientist Peter Shor in a 1995 paper. The team outlined the technology in a study published Dec. 9 in the journal Nature.
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The Google researchers tested Willow against the random circuit sampling (RCS) benchmark, which is now a standard metric for assessing quantum computing chips. In these tests, Willow performed a computation in under five minutes that would have taken today's fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years. This is close to a quadrillion times longer than the age of the universe.
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https://www.livescience.com/technolo...verse-to-crack
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Los Alamos National Laboratory and the university are partnering on a $1.2-billion project for two centers near Ypsilanti, one for classified activities and another for non-classified artificial intelligence computing and research, university officials announced last week. The facility will house the world’s highest performing computing assets, said Steve Bakkal, a Michigan Economic Development Corporation senior strategist, at the Michigan Strategic Fund Board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Bakkal said the investment will also expand the state’s “innovation infrastructure and AI ecosystem.” “They will bring the biggest, baddest, fastest computer in the world, because that’s what they have to have to do in their work to protect us and to protect our citizens here in the United States,” added Chris Kolb, the university’s Vice President for Government Relations.
The $100-million grant comes via the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, according to an announcement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She applauded the investment, saying that the project will create “at least 200 knowledge-economy jobs” with nearly $200,000 plus benefits for full-time employees.
The remainder of the billion-dollar project is funded by $850 million from the university and $300 million from the national laboratory, according to Michigan Strategic Fund documents.
The separate but connected facilities are slated to become fully operational by 2030 with construction starting in 2026, according to the announcement.
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https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...-computer.html
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The University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory plan to develop a facility for high-performance computing and AI research designed to enhance the university’s research capabilities in science, energy and national security and create new jobs in southeast Michigan.
The effort, part of a new partnership agreement, builds on a recently established research collaboration between the two institutions. Under the expanded agreement, the laboratory and the university will partner in areas such as artificial intelligence, materials science and advanced manufacturing.
The facility will be located in Washtenaw County and house two computing centers.
One center will support Los Alamos scientists and engineers in conducting research and development focused on critical national security AI challenges. An adjacent academic computing center will enable U-M faculty and students, and university partners from throughout the state, to collaborate with Los Alamos researchers on multidisciplinary research projects.
The academic computing center also will provide U-M and Los Alamos researchers with opportunities to design joint workforce development programs and educational programs for students and trainees.
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https://insidehpc.com/2024/12/univ-o...arch-facility/
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