Google Quantum AI — vendor dossier

Google Quantum AI

Quantum computers
G

Superconducting-transmon quantum computing programme inside Alphabet, run as Google Quantum AI under founder and lead Hartmut Neven. The dossier scopes Google Quantum AI (the QC research division headquartered at the Goleta / Santa Barbara campus, with collaborators in Mountain View); it excludes Alphabet's broader cloud, search, and AI businesses. Google publishes a six-milestone hardware roadmap targeting a large-scale error-corrected machine (~10^6 physical qubits) by the end of the decade; the December 2024 Willow chip placed the programme at Milestone 2 (below-threshold quantum error correction on a distance-7 surface-code logical qubit).

HQ
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Founded
2012
Status
public
Parent
alphabet
Last verified
Sun May 24 2026 08:00:00 GMT+0800 (Singapore Standard Time)

Timeline

2012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024202520262027202820292030today
2012
Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab founded by Hartmut Neven at Google (with NASA Ames, USRA); pivot to in-house superconducting hardware programme follows the 2014 recruitment of John Martinis' UCSB group
2018-03
Bristlecone (72-qubit transmon) announced at APS March Meeting — predecessor to Sycamore
2019-10
Sycamore (53-qubit transmon) — "quantum supremacy" via random-circuit sampling (Arute et al., Nature 574, 505)
2023-02
Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface-code logical qubit — first demonstration that a distance-5 logical qubit narrowly outperforms distance-3 (Sycamore-class device, Nature 614)
2024-12
Willow (105-qubit transmon) demonstrates below-threshold quantum error correction — distance-3, -5, -7 surface-code logical qubits with exponential error suppression (Λ ≈ 2.14 per code-distance step)
~2029
Milestone 6 — large-scale error-corrected quantum computer (~10^6 physical qubits, ~10^3 logical qubits) for useful applications
shipped milestone public roadmap

Current flagship

Willow — 105-qubit superconducting transmon (square-lattice surface-code device, distance-7 demonstrated)

Milestones

  1. 2024-12
    Willow (105-qubit transmon) demonstrates below-threshold quantum error correction — distance-3, -5, -7 surface-code logical qubits with exponential error suppression (Λ ≈ 2.14 per code-distance step)
    Quantum computers paper source ↗
  2. 2023-02
    Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface-code logical qubit — first demonstration that a distance-5 logical qubit narrowly outperforms distance-3 (Sycamore-class device, Nature 614)
    Quantum computers paper source ↗
  3. 2019-10
    Sycamore (53-qubit transmon) — "quantum supremacy" via random-circuit sampling (Arute et al., Nature 574, 505)
    Quantum computers paper source ↗
  4. 2018-03
    Bristlecone (72-qubit transmon) announced at APS March Meeting — predecessor to Sycamore
    Quantum computers blog source ↗
  5. 2012
    Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab founded by Hartmut Neven at Google (with NASA Ames, USRA); pivot to in-house superconducting hardware programme follows the 2014 recruitment of John Martinis' UCSB group
    Quantum computers blog source ↗

Roadmap

  • milestone-1 Beyond-classical computation (achieved 2019, Sycamore RCS) source ↗
  • milestone-2 Quantum error-correction prototype — logical-qubit error rate ~10^-2 on ~100 physical qubits (achieved 2024, Willow) source ↗
  • milestone-3 Long-lived logical qubit — 10^6 operations with < 1 error (logical error ~10^-6); next near-term target source ↗
  • milestone-4 Logical gate — demonstrate a fault-tolerant gate between two long-lived logical qubits source ↗
  • milestone-5 Engineering scale-up — tile logical qubits into a fault-tolerant module (~10^4 physical qubits) source ↗
  • ~2029 Milestone 6 — large-scale error-corrected quantum computer (~10^6 physical qubits, ~10^3 logical qubits) for useful applications source ↗

Capability details

Quantum computing

Qubit type
transmon
Physical qubits
105
Logical qubits
1
1Q gate fidelity
—
2Q gate fidelity
—
T₁
—
T₂
—
EC code
surface
Connectivity
square-lattice
9 unverified fields
  • modalities.qc.one_q_fidelity
  • modalities.qc.two_q_fidelity
  • modalities.qc.coherence_t1_ms
  • modalities.qc.coherence_t2_ms
  • modalities.qc.gate_set
  • modalities.qc.logical_qubits_current — Willow demonstrates a single below-threshold surface-code logical qubit (distances 3, 5, 7); not yet two interacting logical qubits or a logical gate
  • key_personnel.1.since — Julian Kelly joined Google with the Martinis UCSB team transition (~2014); exact start month not given on team page
  • key_personnel.2.since — Anthony Megrant joined Google with the Martinis UCSB team transition (~2014); exact start month not given on team page
  • roadmap.5.target — ~2029 reflects Sundar Pichai's 2021 statement of an error-corrected quantum computer within the decade and 2025 commentary from Neven; Google's roadmap page itself does not stamp Milestone 6 with a year

People

  • Hartmut Neven — Founder & Lead, Google Quantum AI (VP Engineering, Google) (since 2012) ↗
  • Julian Kelly — Director of Hardware, Google Quantum AI (since 2014) ↗
  • Anthony Megrant — Chief Architect, Willow chip program (since 2014) ↗

References