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Google's Willow quantum chip completed a benchmark in under five minutes ...

Published

14 July 2026

Topic

technology

Sectors

Quantum Computing

Geography

United States

Source

Read at scienceblog.com

Verified

Fusion42 · 15 July 2026 · Fusion42 review

Google's Willow quantum chip completed a random circuit sampling benchmark in under five minutes; the company estimates classical simulation would take 10 septillion years, though the benchmark has no known commercial application. The more significant result is Willow's error-correction performance: logical error rates improved by roughly 2x with each step up in code distance, demonstrating progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Quantum Computing.

◆ The Wire takeaway

If you're building quantum algorithms or applications, Willow's error-correction threshold crossing changes what you can actually run: logical qubits now stay reliable longer than physical ones, which is the hard part of turning theory into working machines. The five-minute benchmark is marketing; the 2x improvement per code distance is your window opening.

Coverage

1 source · 14 Jul 2026

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Quantum Computingquantum-computingerror-correctionhardware-milestonefault-tolerance