hardware policy

King’s College London Awarded Access to Google’s Willow Processor Through NQCC Initiative

King’s College London Awarded Access to Google’s Willow Processor Through NQCC Initiative

Curator's Take

This partnership represents a significant step in democratizing access to Google's cutting-edge Willow quantum processor, which recently demonstrated breakthrough error correction capabilities that could pave the way toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. By providing King's College London with direct access through the NQCC initiative, Google is fostering academic research that could uncover novel quantum applications beyond the typical focus areas of cryptography and optimization. The collaboration signals a maturing quantum ecosystem where leading tech companies are strategically partnering with universities to accelerate practical quantum algorithm development, potentially bridging the gap between today's noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices and tomorrow's fault-tolerant quantum computers.

— Mark Eatherly

Summary

Insider Brief PRESS RELEASE — The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and Google Quantum AI today announced King’s College London (King’s) has been awarded access to the Willow processor as the named recipient of a joint initiative to explore novel applications for quantum computing. Launched in December 2025, the call for proposals was created through […]