Google said its Willow chip achieved “verifiable quantum advantage,” completing a specific algorithm about 13,000 times faster than classical supercomputers.
The claim builds on Willow’s December 2024 milestone in below-threshold quantum error suppression, where adding more qubits reduced errors instead of compounding them.
That matters because quantum systems remain fragile, typically requiring temperatures near absolute zero, while useful fault-tolerant machines still need thousands of logical qubits built from 1,000 to 10,000 physical qubits each.
The result strengthens Alphabet’s position in a field also pursued by IBM, Microsoft, IonQ, D-Wave and Rigetti, though broad commercial quantum computing is still widely seen as at least a decade away.
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Google's 105-Qubit Willow Chip Delivers Verifiable Quantum Advantage, Ushering in a New Era for Quantum Computing
Overview
In October 2025, Google Quantum AI achieved a major milestone by demonstrating the first verifiable quantum advantage using its 105-qubit Willow chip and the Quantum Echoes algorithm. This breakthrough built on the Willow chip’s earlier 2024 benchmark, where it solved a problem in minutes that would take classical supercomputers trillions of years. The achievement marks a shift from theoretical promise to practical quantum solutions, paving the way for real-world applications. Google’s progress with Willow highlights the growing power of quantum hardware and algorithms, setting the stage for the next steps toward scalable, useful quantum computing.