Google Quantum AI has launched the Willow Early Access Program, a selective initiative that gives external research groups direct access to its Willow quantum processor, which is not yet available through any public cloud offering. Google is explicitly seeking proposals for high-impact scientific experiments designed specifically for the Willow architecture. Accepted teams get exclusive access to run circuits on the hardware itself.
Important dates:
Submission deadline: May 15, 2026
Selection notification: July 1, 2026
Submit via: quantumai.google/willowearlyaccess
First Structured Access to Willow for Researchers
Willow is currently Google's most advanced QPU. It was announced in late 2024 with notable error-correction and performance benchmarks. Until now, there has been no formalized pathway for external researchers or developers to run workloads on it.
This program is the first structured access model for Willow. For research teams working in areas including quantum simulation, error correction, or algorithm development, this is the earliest opportunity to move work off simulators and onto the actual device.
Worth noting: this is not a developer sandbox or an API trial. The bar is high. Google is selecting for scientific merit and experimental feasibility. Proposals must be built around what Willow can currently do and the selection criteria explicitly calls out realistic noise sources and alignment with current device specs.
Application Requirements
Proposals must be specific to the Willow processor architecture. Google's instructions ask applicants to detail the circuits they plan to run and the observables that would appear in a publishable paper. Numerical simulations are encouraged as supporting evidence, but Google is explicit that proposals should push into territory that simulators cannot easily handle.
Each proposal must also name a dedicated team member, such as a PhD student or postdoc, who will own the execution.
Selection is evaluated on two dimensions:
Feasibility: Will the experiment produce high-quality results on current Willow hardware? Does the proposal account for real noise sources and device constraints?
Impact: Could a successful run yield a high-impact scientific result or demonstrate a novel technique?
Not for Most Developers — But the Research Output Will Be
The program targets academic research groups and institutions with the capacity to design, execute, and publish results from quantum experiments. Individual developers or small teams without a dedicated researcher and institutional affiliation are unlikely to meet the eligibility requirements.
For developers not in that category, the more immediate relevance is tracking what comes out of this program. Experiments run on Willow through this access pipeline will likely produce published research that informs algorithm design, error mitigation strategies, and circuit optimization techniques, all of which feed into tooling and frameworks over time.
Access to SOTA quantum hardware is a bottleneck for applied research. IBM's quantum network and Amazon Braket both offer QPU access through tiered programs, but Willow represents a distinct architecture with different performance characteristics. Google's controlled rollout through a proposal-based model is consistent with how early QPU access has been managed across the industry, by prioritizing scientific output over broad availability.
No public timeline has been announced for when Willow access will be available through standard Google Cloud channels.