Google’s Quantum Chief Promises Real Tech Breakthrough in Five Years

Three months ago, Google demonstrated that quantum systems can scale without significantly increasing the rate of quantum errors. That removes the barriers to building a truly practical quantum computer, which would require hundreds of thousands to a million qubits. All of that has made Google’s quantum executives more confident that the company will make a real quantum breakthrough before the end of the decade.

Sundar Pichai with one of Google’s quantum computers in October 2019. Image source: Reuters

In an interview with CNBC, Google Quantum AI chief executive Julian Kelly said: “We think we’re about five years away from a real breakthrough — a practical application that can only be solved on a quantum computer.”

Today, the first incarnations of quantum computers solve synthetic problems that are also impossible to run on classical computers. But they have no practical value. Quantum platforms are still limited in computing resources – in the number of qubits for running complex algorithms. Scientists and developers of such systems and algorithms are still learning how to use them and are looking for a possible application for quantum computers. There is no certainty in these questions, and finding answers to such seemingly simple questions can also be a breakthrough.

So far, Google Quantum AI and its colleagues agree that quantum systems can fundamentally simulate physical phenomena and processes. Since physics and chemistry are the essence of quantum mechanics at the basic level, quantum simulators can pave the way for new materials and substances, such as new battery compositions or drugs.

Another application for quantum systems could be generating data for training artificial intelligence, although Google emphasizes that current AI models are not suitable for running on quantum platforms.

«One of the potential uses you can think of for a quantum computer is generating more and more data,” Kelly said.

All leaders in the computing industry are interested in data and new methods of processing it. Some, like Microsoft, are even ready to subjugate physics – literally. Such an action was the company’s announcement of the creation of a quantum processor on a yet undiscovered particle – the Majorana fermion. Microsoft specialists were not embarrassed by its absence and the subsequent indignation of physicists. Microsoft is ready to shake the foundations of science to achieve its goal.

A separate story is with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. In January 2025, at CES 2025, he said that quantum computers would not appear for at least 15 years, which caused the shares of quantum companies to collapse. Later, he apologized for these words and said that he was interested in quantum developments. Nvidia accelerators can be a link between quantum and classical platforms, and the head of the “graphics” company should not have doubted the new direction of business.

In any case, the next five years will bring a lot of new things to the world of quantum computing. Whether it will be a breakthrough or just rapid progress is not so important. The main thing is that there will be no stagnation in this area, and the result, in one form or another, will definitely appear.