As noted earlier, QuEra has accomplished some impressive feats in quantum computing. In fact, they just shipped a quantum machine that’s ready for error correction to Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). As a result, this orthogonal development is a central moment on the diffusion of technology’s path toward building much more reliable and scalable quantum systems. The company plans to make this advanced quantum machine available to global customers by 2026, signaling a new era for quantum technology.
This development is especially timely considering the industry’s pursuit to overcome the other noise challenges that exist in today’s quantum computers. When introduced, noise can interfere with the computation in such a way it becomes difficult to obtain consistently accurate results. QuEra is focused on building large scale, level-two quantum computers based on neutral atoms. This groundbreaking approach not only addresses longstanding challenges, but offers powerful benefits compared to today’s technologies and methods.
As you can imagine, the excitement surrounding this significant advancement is palpable within the quantum community. Srinivas Prasad Sugasani, vice president of quantum at Microsoft, expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming year, stating that “we feel very excited about the year 2026, because lots of work that happened over the last so many years is coming to fruition now.”
The Promise of Neutral Atoms
QuEra’s focus on neutral atoms — reframing the quantum computing landscape — with a particularly powerful and flexible substrate. These atoms not only scale extremely well but provide massive computation speed up benefits. Justin Ging, chief product officer at Atom Computing, emphasized the scalability of neutral atoms, stating, “If there’s one word, it’s scalability. That’s the key benefit of neutral atoms.”
QuEra’s most recent collaboration was with researchers from Harvard, MIT and the University of Maryland. Together, their works demonstrated that quantum operations implemented with logical qubits are superior to those executed with bare physical qubits. This result breaks significant new ground by indicating that logical qubits are able to suppress much of the noise that plagues today’s quantum systems.
The ability to bring together any two atomic qubits at will adds even more potential for strong, quantum operation-carrying scalability. This feature maps very well with trapped ions, which permit proximity, enabling more complex computations.
Error Correction and Future Prospects
This second tier of quantum computing is the just additional breakthrough we need to supercharge innovation. It includes devices that are capable of doing different error-detecting and error-correcting protocols. Level-two machines address the coherence issue that’s plagued earlier machines sometimes referred to as noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. In doing this, they tremendously increase the trustworthiness of any quantum computations that will be done.
Jerry Chow, director, quantum systems at IBM Quantum helped us understand what’s behind the performance gap among competing quantum technologies. According to him, calculations on atomic systems are generally much slower than on superconducting systems. They run at roughly one-hundredth to one-thousandth the speed. He warned against looking at this performance gap only through the lens of technology.
“I think that kind of level framing…is a very physics-device-oriented view of the world,” Chow remarked. “We should be looking at it more from a computational view of the world, which is, what can you actually use these circuits for and enable?”
QuEra and its research partners are hard at work continuing to develop these technologies. There is increasing optimism around the possibility of large-scale, error-corrected machines. Level-three quantum computers will likely utilize many hundreds of thousands, or even millions of qubits. This breakthrough will enable transformative applications across medicine, agriculture, manufacturing, climate adaptation and beyond.
The Road Ahead
As quantum leaders look past the 2026 horizon, many expect a litmus test or watershed moment in the evolution of quantum computing’s impact. QuEra’s innovations in neutral atom technology promise a series of breakthroughs that would reshape what is possible within this burgeoning field. Researchers are still in the midst of exploring the full capabilities of logical qubits and error correction. Their work is opening the door to practical applications that could transform industries — from pharmaceuticals to finance.
Yuval Boger, the CEO of ColdQuanta has written about the exciting advancements being developed with neutral atoms. He mentioned, “Because of the unique capabilities of neutral atoms, we have shown that we can create a 50x or 100x speedup over what previously was thought.” This statement should be seen in light of the very real potential computational efficiency these innovations promise to deliver.
While challenges absolutely still exist on the path toward commercially viable quantum computing solutions today, there’s a healthy dose of optimism among experts. Boger commented on the current state of quantum computers by questioning their immediate usefulness: “If someone says quantum computers are commercially useful today, I say I want to have what they’re having.”
