DARPA Advances Six Quantum Computing Companies in Its QBI Program
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected six companies, including IonQ and IBM, to advance to Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. The program aims to determine the feasibility of building commercially viable fault-tolerant quantum computers by 2033 and supports those best positioned for success. Companies in this final stage can receive up to $300 million in funding from DARPA. IonQ, using a trapped-ion qubit approach, has achieved notable technical milestones such as the highest system accuracy with 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity and demonstrated real-time quantum error-correction decoding. IBM also advanced due to its progress in fault-tolerant systems. Both are now positioned ahead of other publicly traded competitors like Quantinuum. Other companies, including Microsoft, PsiQuantum, Diraq, and Atom Computing (a private partner with Microsoft), have also moved forward using diverse qubit technologies such as neutral-atom or silicon spin approaches.
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Topics: DARPA government funding quantum computing stage advancements