I have spent years talking about how to calculate real world ROI from AI implementations. People don’t really like to hear about ROI and actual outcomes. A lot of pilots have failed and just been swept under the rug. We are seeing something a little different in the quantum space. Both Alphabet (Google) and Rigetti Computing are making pushes to find partnerships that reveal the best use cases. You know I believe that we are going to see a big data center push to use technology like NVIDIA’s NVQLink platform to bridge classic and quantum implementations. It also means that they need to target actual quantum use cases to make that unlock meaningful. This strategy of collaboration and outreach to find the next big use cases is something that makes sense to me and should be effective.
Google’s decision to open its Willow quantum processor to UK researchers through a partnership with the National Quantum Computing Centre marks a subtle but important shift in how quantum capability is being developed and legitimized [1]. Rather than framing progress purely around qubit counts or internal milestones, this move emphasizes application discovery, external validation, and ecosystem building. By inviting researchers to explore practical use cases in areas such as chemistry, materials science, and medicine, Google is effectively testing whether today’s quantum hardware can support meaningful scientific workflows outside a corporate lab. This approach aligns with a broader trend in quantum computing where access, reproducibility, and integration with national research infrastructure are becoming as strategically important as raw hardware advances.
Rigetti Computing’s recent emphasis on deepening strategic partnerships with academic institutions, government agencies, and technology firms reflects a broader shift from hype toward concrete validation and commercialization pathways for quantum computing [2]. By leveraging external expertise and resources, Rigetti is attempting to build tangible use cases and integrate its full-stack quantum hardware and software more tightly into real-world research and development environments [3]. This network-driven approach signals that pure technical milestones alone are insufficient; ecosystem engagement is now a core part of proving viability and attracting investment within a market where revenue growth remains modest and execution risk is high [4]. Such collaborations may help clarify which applications deliver value with current and near-term quantum systems as the industry moves beyond speculative pricing toward measurable commercial relevance.
In both these examples, they are asking for use cases precisely because they do not yet know which problems will survive contact with real hardware. In quantum computing, theoretical possibility, simulated performance, and on-device behavior are still far apart.
First, quantum advantage is highly problem-specific. Many algorithms that look promising on paper collapse once realistic noise, connectivity constraints, calibration drift, and error mitigation overhead are applied. Even teams building the hardware cannot reliably predict which workloads will remain coherent long enough to produce signal rather than noise. External researchers bring diverse problem formulations that stress the system in unexpected ways, revealing where the hardware actually breaks.
Second, use-case discovery is an empirical process, not a design exercise. Classical computing matured through decades of workload driven co-evolution between hardware and software. Quantum computing is still pre-workload. Vendors can optimize gates, coherence, and compilation, but without real application pressure they risk optimizing the wrong dimensions. Asking for use cases is a way to let workloads pull the roadmap instead of pushing it from the lab outward.
Third, credibility now depends on independent validation. Internal demos no longer move the field or policymakers. Governments and funding agencies want evidence that national infrastructure can support open science and reproducible results. By routing Willow through the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre, Google gains third-party signals about what is actually feasible, not just what is claimed.
Finally, this is about de-risking the transition from research to utility. If no compelling use cases emerge for building out quantum, that itself is information. It helps constrain expectations, recalibrate timelines, and inform whether investment should shift toward error correction, new qubit modalities, or hybrid classical-quantum workflows.
Footnotes:
[1] BBC, “Google asks UK experts to find uses for its powerful quantum tech,” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2epm0w0zggo
[2] Yahoo Finance, “Can RGTI’s Strategic Partnerships Speed Its Path to …,” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rgtis-strategic-partnerships-speed-path-170800701.html
[3] Nasdaq, “Where Will Rigetti Computing Be in 5 Years?,” https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/where-will-rigetti-computing-be-5-years-0
[4] Yahoo Finance, “Rigetti Computing (RGTI) Stock Price, News, Quote & History,” https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RGTI/
