Eighteen months ago(ish), Chrome started using False Start. False Start reduces the average time for an SSL handshake by 30%.

Since the biggest problem with transport security is that most sites don't use it, anything that reduces the latency impact of HTTPS is important. Making things faster doesn't just make them faster, it also makes them cheaper and more prevalent. When HTTPS is faster, it'll be used in more places than it would otherwise be.

But, sadly, False Start will be disabled, except for sites doing NPN, in Chrome 20. NPN is a TLS extension that we use to negotiate SPDY, although you don't have to use it to negotiate SPDY, you can advertise http/1.1 if you wish.