Google has announced its latest quantum computing chip, 'Willow.' The company claimed that the processor performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes, which would otherwise take 10 25 years on a conventional supercomputer.

Quantum chips like Willow operate on a much smaller scale. The qubits that make up these high powered chips are roughly the size of an atom, and operate via the rules of quantum mechanics. The chips pack a computing punch at a miniscule level and with potentially better energy efficiency than supercomputers, but they’re also limited in their uses.

Google's breakthrough in speed and error correction with its new quantum chip, while not immediately useful for most businesses, accelerates the timeline for quantum-safe security preparation and signals a critical moment for technology leaders to begin strategic planning for the quantum era.