What Happened This Month: June was an impressive month for the improvement of quantum computing qubits, the basic units of computation, with announcements from Alice & Bob, Diraq, and Quantinuum. Microsoft gave more information about Azure Quantum Elements as a suite for scientific discovery. Infleqtion delivered a quantum atomic clock in the UK, Pasqal delivered a quantum computer in France, Germany advanced its quantum sovereignty program, Canada amended its export control policy, and the United Nations made a significant designation for 2025.
Technology Developments
What? Alice & Bob stated it had increased the time between bit-flip errors to more than 10 seconds.
- Why? Errors in quantum computation prevent us from performing calculations with many steps.
- What it means: Bit and phase flips are the two primary errors that can occur in single qubits. By making bit flips rare, Alice & Bob can focus on phase flips and improving the fidelity of its 2-qubit operations. See my Research Note for more information.
What? Diraq announced it had achieved record control accuracy for a silicon quantum dot computer using industry-standard CMOS materials.
- Why? Quantum device manufacturability is crucial for a company to demonstrate that it deserves additional private and public funding.
- What it means: While Diraq continues its R&D to increase the number of qubits and their quality, it can have more confidence that it can build and deliver future systems in volume. See my Research Note for more information.
What? Quantinuum announced that it scaled the number of qubits in its H2 trapped ion system from 32 to 56.
- Why? We will ultimately need tens of thousands of high-quality qubits to deliver Practical Quantum Advantage.
- What it means: Trapped ion systems are known for their low error rate but have been hard to scale compared to superconducting approaches. Quantinuum’s advancement shows good scaling progress while presumably implementing locally networked quantum processing units. See my Research Note for more information.
New Products or Services
What? Microsoft announced new features of Azure Quantum Elements for chemistry and discrete Fourier Transforms, continuing the expansion of the offering beyond quantum computing.
- Why? As scientific computing evolves, it must incorporate advanced quantum and classical methods and algorithms in a unified offering.
- What it means: Microsoft Azure Quantum Elements is more than just “quantum.” By grouping new scientific and numerical computational capabilities within the offering, scientists, researchers, and engineers can employ a well-designed and integrated collection of tools on the cloud. See the Microsoft blog entry for more information.
Market Developments
What? Infleqtion sold and delivered its first TiqkerTM quantum atom clock in the UK.
- Why? “Quantum” is more than quantum computing; this milestone will pave the way for future neutral atom commercial products.
- What it means: GPS for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) is under attack in conflict areas around the globe. We now require highly accurate quantum atomic clocks for aviation and military applications, with consumer uses beginning in the next few years. We will also use these clocks in data centers and energy networks. See the Infleqtion press release for more details.
What? Pasqal delivered its first neutral atom quantum computer to a third party, the Très Grand Centre de calcul du CEA in Bruyères-le-Châtel, France.
- Why? Quantum hardware startups must pass from the “prototype on the cloud” to the “commercial system on customer premises” phase to succeed.
- What it means: Pasqal has demonstrated that it can package a neutral atom quantum computer with more than 100 qubits and deliver it to a customer. This is an early step toward reducing such systems’ size, weight, power, and cost and making them available for private and dedicated use. See the press release on the Pasqal website.
What? The Q-Exa consortium, including IQM Quantum Computers, Exiden, and HQS Quantum Simulation, has integrated a 20-qubit quantum computer with a classical supercomputer in Munich, Germany.
- Why? The future of computing is quantum plus classical computers, and Germany wants this computational power within its borders.
- What it means: Future workloads will include classical (CPU, GPU, NPU) and quantum computers. We already employ classical computers to use and program quantum computers, but the computational integration will allow the right task to be completed on the right architecture. See the press release for more information.
Other Developments
What? The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
- Why? Quantum technologies will be vital and require increased worldwide awareness and education.
- What it means: Through a series of programs, quantum computing and other technologies will be highlighted and explained globally through educational and cultural programs. These will lead to an enlarged and well-trained workforce. See the article in Physics World.
What? Canada added quantum computing systems and components to their export control regulations.
- Why? Countries are starting to limit which technologies vendors can export without special permission to maintain national security and obtain eventual sovereign quantum edge or parity.
- What it means: Countries may prevent bad actors from obtaining quantum technology, but they may also limit their ability to import essential parts of the quantum supply chain from nations with similar controls. See the Global Sanctions and Export Controls Blog post.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author is a former employee of Infleqtion and holds an equity position in the company. The author does not hold an equity position in any other company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
Quantum in Context: A Qubit Primer
Quantum QuickTake: Qubit News from Alice & Bob, Diraq, and Quantinuum
Quantum in Context: The Case for On-Premises Quantum Computers
Author Information
Dr. Bob Sutor is an expert in quantum technologies with 40+ years of experience. He is the accomplished author of the quantum computing book Dancing with Qubits, Second Edition. Bob is dedicated to evolving quantum to help solve society's critical computational problems.
