  We determine the computational difficulty of finding ground states of
one-dimensional (1D) Hamiltonians which are known to be Matrix Product States
(MPS). To this end, we construct a class of 1D frustration free Hamiltonians
with unique MPS ground states and a polynomial gap above, for which finding the
ground state is at least as hard as factoring. By lifting the requirement of a
unique ground state, we obtain a class for which finding the ground state
solves an NP-complete problem. Therefore, for these Hamiltonians it is not even
possible to certify that the ground state has been found. Our results thus
imply that in order to prove convergence of variational methods over MPS, as
the Density Matrix Renormalization Group, one has to put more requirements than
just MPS ground states and a polynomial spectral gap.
