Quantum computers that are “practically useful” are 5-to-10 years away, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said, comparing the groundbreaking technology to where artificial intelligence was about a decade ago.

QuEra Computing said on Tuesday the neutral-atom quantum firm has completed a funding round in excess of $230 million, with investment from Google's Quantum AI business unit and SoftBank Vision Fund,

Google claims quantum computing could see real-world applications within five years, sparking debate among experts worldwide.

QuEra Computing, a Boston-based quantum computing company, has raised $230 million in a round led by Google (GOOGL) and SoftBank (SFTBF) ’s Vision Fund 2 to develop “fault-tolerant” quantum computers, designed to overcome the computational errors that have long hindered real-world quantum applications.

Governments, led by the US and China, and corporations are pledging billions of dollars to quantum computing research in the pursuit of the futuristic technology

Google and SoftBank’s Vision Fund are new investors in Inc., participating in a $230 million funding round for the Boston-based startup, which aims to make quantum computing more practical. QuEra Interim Chief Executive Officer Andy Ory said the latest funding round came together quickly — “in a matter of weeks” — after the startup cleared a series of technical challenges that spurred investors to approach him.

Quantum computing, long relegated to the realm of the theoretical, feels like it is back on the agenda as a potentially viable alternative to the