The launch by Google of “Willow”, a “Quantum Computing AI Chip”has brought Quantum Computing into the public eye at a time when attention was focused on Artificial Intelligence. Is Quantum Computing the next “thing”? It is possible, although it is not something new: our first articles on Quantum Computing published by Muy Computer Pro, date back ten years. A decade is nothing. But, in information technologies and digitalization, it is an eternity. We say this, because we do not want to appear as opportunists, talking today about something that is beginning to be fashionable when, the reality is that we have been writing about it for ten years in this technological media.
Google’s announcement, in itself, is not as big as the general media has implied. Possibly, because they want the general population to understand it and, the best way, is to say that this chip does in a matter of milliseconds what a traditional quantum super computer It would take 10,000 million years. But, in various segments of the digital technology sector, “Willow” is very relevant. First, because, for those in the know, this new Google chip that combines Quantum Computing with Artificial Intelligence is one more step in Google’s evolutionary work, which has more than 20 years of history.
Second, because it is the first time that a BigTech company has entered into a chip Quantum Computing with Artificial Intelligence: Let us remember that NVIDIA, for example, embedded Generative AI (GenAI) in its GPUs, but the word “quantum” did not appear anywhere. And, third, because, if AI was already a very disruptive factor for the semiconductor, processor and chip sector, the union of Quantum and Artificial Intelligence represents a wake-up call of biblical proportions for traditional chip design and manufacturing companies: Nvidia , Intel, AMD, Apple, Qualcomm, TSMC, Samsung Semiconductor and others.
Evidently, Quantum + AI will strongly affect computer, server and data center manufacturersbe it hp, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Acens, Cisco, Acer and many others. But, in areas where maximum computing power is necessary, changes are essential. AND Who needs more intelligent (AI) processing power (quantum) than network managers? Nobody. Both telecommunications operators and telecommunications infrastructure managers need to be the Formula 1 of effectiveness and efficiency. Which is not obvious, but rather obvious. Consumers and clients demand it.
The factors that demand maximum connectivity are known. Telecommunications networks, whether fiber or wireless, have experienced a monumental overload due to the exponential increase in users, first of mobile telephony, then of the Internet; then, smartphones (mobile telephony + Internet); With social networks, the need for maximum connectivity multiplied by “n”. OTT (Over The Top), essentially BigTech, can function completely effectively thanks to telecommunications networks: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, etc.
However, the billion-dollar investments in networks have not been made by BigTech, but by telecommunications operators and the management firms of wireless telecommunications networks (“towers”), especially if they are neutral operators and, as is the case of the European leader, Cellnex Telecom provides its services to all operators: Telefónica, Vodafone, MasOrange or whoever (the television networks, for example, to whom it sends the signal).
Con eight billion people connected to the Internet on the planet, the pressure on the networks is maximum. Additionally, companies (large, medium-sized, SMEs and the self-employed) have many needs for mobile phone and Internet connectivity, whether fiber or Wi-Fi. Millions of people telework or do so on the move. More pressure on telecommunications networks. Furthermore, both consumers (B2C market) and companies (B2B market) they want their connection to be perfect. Not just, “don’t let the line go down”, but being able to talk on the phone or surf the Internet in the Paris or Madrid metro (until recently, unthinkable), on high-speed trains and airplanes and, I don’t love you Not even counting if the staff participates in a religious experience on a football field or in a stadium, in which Taylor Swift gives a concert before 100,000 people, all wanting to upload videos to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube. I experienced this example recently with my daughter, who is a “total Swiftie”, and she spent the entire 4-hour concert doing wonders with her cell phone.
It is not obvious to ask how it is possible that 100,000 people in a football stadium are using their smartphones intensively in a closed space and there are no network difficulties. A decade ago – it is not the Paleolithic – it was common that, during the Christmas holidays, neither SMS messages nor phone calls would work, due to “network saturation.” Even WhatsApp has “gone down” on occasion, causing ordinary administration misfortunes that, for people, have greater meaning than the fall of Rome.
The management of telecommunications networks of neutral operators such as Cellnex Telecom makes it possible for everything to work perfectly and for all stakeholders to be happy: first, the public, the staff, who have uploaded videos weighing hundreds of megabytes to social networks; second, the telecommunications operators, which are the ones that provide the service to the end user. And, third, the BigTech companies, which are the ones that get the applause from the grateful staff who, at the football match or pop concert, have lived a double experience: personal body user present in the place, cheering on the team or singing songs, and digital user who, all that he experiences, shares it on social networks.
If we add that new technologies are running on the networks: 5G and, soon, 6G; Internet of Things (IoT); Edge Computing; Cybersecurity and Big Data, the need for maximum computing to provide the best connectivity is imperative. And the answer today lies in these developments in quantum computing and AI. Wireless telecommunications infrastructure managers, such as Cellnex Telecom, are responding to these demands with Billionaire investments in networks, which already include artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
There is no other way to do it. The period 2019-2024 (pre-pandemic, pandemic and post-pandemic) has been an experimental period that has been successful in extremely negative circumstances, such as during confinements and the need for society and companies to be connected, so as not to go up the wall. …, and in the happy post-pandemic years, when people took to the streets wanting to take revenge, whether on the beach, at the cinema, in the shopping center or in the football stadium, all places where connectivity HE taken for granted. And, always, accompanied by your smartphone, tablet, laptop or any other device that allows, live and direct, live the experience twice: physical and digital.
Jorge Díaz-Cardiel. Managing Partner of Advice Strategic Consultants. Economist, Sociologist, Lawyer, Historian, Philosopher and Journalist. Author of more than a thousand articles on economics and international relations, he has published twenty books.
