Google CEO drops bombshell quantum computing breakthrough

The stock market has a new obsession this year, and it’s not just AI.

Quantum computing stocks have had a rollicking 2025, becoming arguably the most explosive trades in recent memory. The industry that was once dismissed as science fiction is suddenly producing billion-dollar winners.

For perspective, quantum computing bellwethers have posted triple- and quadruple-digit gains over the past year. Stocks like D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti, IonQ, and Quantum Computing Inc. have all staged incredible rallies, spearheaded by early commercial wins, government contracts, and a rush of investor enthusiasm.

Collectively, the group’s combined market value topped $40 billion, up severalfold from last year’s levels. 

Even with relatively modest sales and with most businesses in the space being pre-revenue, it has successfully captured Wall Street’s imagination.

And now, the conversation is likely to get a lot louder. Alphabet (GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai just revealed a massive new step in Google’s quantum roadmap, a move that can effectively tilt the race from speculation to scale.

Google’s quantum leap gets real

Google CEO Sundar Pichai isn’t mincing words, as the tech giant’s quantum push just hit a massive new milestone, potentially redefining computing. 

Alphabet’s Willow chip just achieved what Pichai calls the“first-ever verifiable quantum advantage,” pushing Google ahead in a crowded field.

Willow ran the algorithm — which we’ve named Quantum Echoes — 13,000x faster than the best classical algorithm on one of the world's fastest supercomputers.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai

“This breakthrough is a significant step toward the first real-world application of quantum computing, and we're excited to see where it leads,” Pichai added.

The data backs him up. 

Published in Nature and verified by independent teams, Willow’s results aren’t just in theory but are repeatable and measurable. 

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That’s important because scientists can effectively confirm the outcomes through experiments. “The key thing about verifiability is it’s a huge step in the path toward a real-world application,”said Tom O’Brien, a lead researcher at Google Quantum AI.

Moreover, the algorithm, Quantum Echoes, efficiently models atomic interactions backed by nuclear magnetic resonance, a method that can accelerate work in drug discovery, battery design, and other critical areas.

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Investors rewarded Alphabet stock handsomely following the development, with its stock rising 1.8% in late trading, adding nearly $35 billion in market value. 

Next up on Google’s power-packed roadmap is Milestone 3, to develop a self-correcting “logical qubit” that can run error-free programs. If successful, it will push quantum computing closer to commercial reality, while strengthening Google’s edge over Amazon and Microsoft, along with other Big Tech names.

Quick takeaways:

• Google’s Willow chip delivers the first verified quantum advantage, running algorithms that are 13,000x faster compared to the top supercomputers.
• The breakthrough, confirmed in Nature, pushes quantum computing from theory to real-world validation.
• Alphabet stock rose 1.8%, adding nearly $35 billion in market value, as investors priced in Google’s evolving quantum edge.

Quantum turns the corner toward real-world impact

Following Google’s latest breakthrough, quantum computing is starting to look a lot more like a business.

Quantum computers allow exploration of countless possibilities simultaneously. Take, for instance, Google’s Willow chip that was said to have solved a problem in five minutes that would otherwise have taken a supercomputer 10 septillion years.

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Two terms matter for quantum computing investors. 

Quantum supremacy was the headline years ago, blowing past classical machines on a lab test. However, quantum advantage is the real milestone, where quantum beats classical on something practical.

Google hit that bar this week with its Quantum Echoes algorithm, potentially unlocking a massive long-term revenue engine.

It’s also where AI and quantum converge. 

Training AI models requires a ton of computing power, and Big Tech has already shelled out $85 billion into new data centers.

Quantum won’t replace that stack, but it does add a new layer that accelerates complex simulations, feeding into better AI models that, in turn, lead to more efficient quantum experiments.

Additionally, market pundits forecast quantum sales in the low billions by the late 2020s, jumping to $10 billion-$25 billion by 2030, with hundreds of billions in downstream value through the 2030s. 

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