Quantinuum accelerates the path to Universal Fully Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing

Supports Microsoft’s AI and quantum-powered compute platform and “the path to a Quantum Supercomputer”

September 10, 2024

Quantinuum is uniquely known for, and has always put a premium on, demonstrating rather than merely promising breakthroughs in quantum computing. 

When we unveiled the first H-Series quantum computer in 2020, not only did we pioneer the world-leading quantum processors, but we also went the extra mile. We included industry leading comprehensive benchmarking to ensure that any expert could independently verify our results. Since then, our computers have maintained the lead against all competitors in performance and transparency. Today our System Model H2 quantum computer with 56 qubits is the most powerful quantum computer available for industry and scientific research – and the most benchmarked. 

More recently, in a period where we upgraded our H2 system from 32 to 56 qubits and demonstrated the scalability of our QCCD architecture, we also hit a quantum volume of over two million, and announced that we had achieved “three 9’s” fidelity, enabling real gains in fault-tolerance – which we proved within months as we demonstrated the most reliable logical qubits in the world with our partner Microsoft

We don’t just promise what the future might look like; we demonstrate it.

Today, at Quantum World Congress, we shared how recent developments by our integrated hardware and software teams have, yet again, accelerated our technology roadmap. It is with the confidence of what we’ve already demonstrated that we can uniquely announce that by the end of this decade Quantinuum will achieve universal fully fault-tolerant quantum computing, built on foundations such as a universal fault-tolerant gate set, high fidelity physical qubits uniquely capable of supporting reliable logical qubits, and a fully-scalable architecture.

Quantinuum's hardware development roadmap to achieve universal, fully fault-tolerant quantum computing

We also demonstrated, with Microsoft, what rapid acceleration looks like with the creation of 12 highly reliable logical qubits – tripling the number from just a few months ago. Among other demonstrations, we supported Microsoft to create the first ever chemistry simulation using reliable logical qubits combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC), producing results within chemical accuracy. This is a critical demonstration of what Microsoft has called “the path to a Quantum Supercomputer”. 

Quantinuum’s H-Series quantum computers, Powered by Honeywell, were among the first devices made available via Microsoft Azure, where they remain available today. Building on this, we are excited to share that Quantinuum and Microsoft have completed integration of Quantinuum’s InQuanto™ computational quantum chemistry software package with Azure Quantum Elements, the AI enabled generative chemistry platform. The integration mentioned above is accessible to customers participating in a private preview of Azure Quantum Elements, which can be requested from Microsoft and Quantinuum.  

We created a short video on the importance of logical qubits, which you can see here:

These demonstrations show that we have the tools to drive progress towards scientific and industrial advantage in the coming years. Together, we’re demonstrating how quantum computing may be applied to some of humanity’s most pressing problems, many of which are likely only to be solved with the combination of key technologies like AI, HPC, and quantum computing. 

Our credible roadmap draws a direct line from today to hundreds of logical qubits - at which point quantum computing, possibly combined with AI and HPC, will outperform classical computing for a range of scientific problems. 

“The collaboration between Quantinuum and Microsoft has established a crucial step forward for the industry and demonstrated a critical milestone on the path to hybrid classical-quantum supercomputing capable of transforming scientific discovery.” – Dr. Krysta Svore – Technical Fellow and VP of Advanced Quantum Development for Microsoft Azure Quantum

What we revealed today underlines the accelerating pace of development. It is now clear that enterprises need to be ready to take advantage of the progress we can see coming in the next business cycle.

Why now?

The industry consensus is that the latter half of this decade will be critical for quantum computing, prompting many companies to develop roadmaps signalling their path toward error corrected qubits. In their entirety, Quantinuum’s technical and scientific advances accelerate the quantum computing industry, and as we have shown today, reveal a path to universal fault-tolerance much earlier than expected.

Grounded in our prior demonstrations, we now have sufficient visibility into an accelerated timeline for a highly credible hardware roadmap, making now the time to release an update. This provides organizations all over the world with a way to plan, reliably, for universal fully fault-tolerant quantum computing. We have shown how we will scale to more physical qubits at fidelities that support lower error rates (made possible by QEC), with the capacity for “universality” at the logical level. “Universality” is non-negotiable when making good on the promise of quantum computing: if your quantum computer isn’t universal everything you do can be efficiently reproduced on a classical computer

“Our proven history of driving technical acceleration, as well as the confidence that globally renowned partners such as Microsoft have in us, means that this is the industry’s most bankable roadmap to universal fully fault-tolerant quantum computing,” said Dr. Raj Hazra, Quantinuum’s CEO.

Where we go from here?

Before the end of the decade, our quantum computers will have thousands of physical qubits, hundreds of logical qubits with error rates less than 10-6, and the full machinery required for universality and fault-tolerance – truly making good on the promise of quantum computing. 

Quantinuum has a proven history of achieving our technical goals. This is evidenced by our leadership in hardware, software, and the ecosystem of developer tools that make quantum computing accessible. Our leadership in quantum volume and fidelity, our consistent cadence of breakthrough publications, and our collaboration with enterprises such as Microsoft, showcases our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible. 

We are now making an even stronger public commitment to deliver on our roadmap, ushering the industry toward the era of universal fully fault-tolerant quantum computing this decade. We have all the machinery in place for fault-tolerance with error rates around 10-6, meaning we will be able to run circuits that are millions of gates deep – putting us on a trajectory for scientific quantum advantage, and beyond. 

About Quantinuum

Quantinuum, the world’s largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. Quantinuum’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, Quantinuum leads the quantum computing revolution across continents. 

Blog
March 20, 2025
Initiating Impact Today: Combining the World’s Most Powerful in Quantum and Classical Compute
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Quantinuum and NVIDIA, world leaders in their respective sectors, are combining forces to fast-track commercially scalable quantum supercomputers, further bolstering the announcement Quantinuum made earlier this year about the exciting new potential in Generative Quantum AI. 

Make no mistake about it, the global quantum race is on. With over $2 billion raised by companies in 2024 alone, and over 150 new startups in the past five years, quantum computing is no longer restricted to ‘the lab’.  

The United Nations proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), and as we march toward the end of the first quarter, the old maxim that quantum computing is still a decade (or two, or three) away is no longer relevant in today’s world. Governments, commercial enterprises and scientific organizations all stand to benefit from quantum computers, led by those built by Quantinuum.

That is because, amid the flurry of headlines and social media chatter filled with aspirational statements of future ambitions shared by those in the heat of this race, we at Quantinuum continue to lead by example. We demonstrate what that future looks like today, rather than relying solely on slide deck presentations.

Our quantum computers are the most powerful systems in the world. Our H2 system, the only quantum computer that cannot be classically simulated, is years ahead of any other system being developed today. In the coming months, we’ll introduce our customers to Helios, a trillion times more powerful than H2, further extending our lead beyond where the competition is still only planning to be. 

At Quantinuum, we have been convinced for years that the impact of quantum computers on the real world will happen earlier than anticipated. However, we have known that impact will be when powerful quantum computers and powerful classical systems work together. 

This sort of hybrid ‘supercomputer’ has been referenced a few times in the past few months, and there is, rightly, a sense of excitement about what such an accelerated quantum supercomputer could achieve.

The Power of Hybrid Quantum and Classical Compute

In a revolutionary move on March 18th, 2025, at the GTC AI conference, NVIDIA announced the opening of a world-class accelerated quantum research center with Quantinuum selected as a key founding collaborator to work on projects with NVIDIA at the center. 

With details shared in an accompanying press statement and blog post, the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC) being built in Boston, Massachusetts, will integrate quantum computers with AI supercomputers to ultimately explore how to build accelerated quantum supercomputers capable of solving some of the world’s most challenging problems. The center will begin operations later this year.

As shared in Quantinuum’s accompanying statement, the center will draw on the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform, alongside a NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 system containing 576 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs dedicated to quantum research. 

The Role of CUDA-Q in Quantum-Classical Integration  

Integrating quantum and classical hardware relies on a platform that can allow researchers and developers to quickly shift context between these two disparate computing paradigms within a single application. NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform will be the entry-point for researchers to exploit the NVAQC quantum-classical integration. 

In 2022, Quantinuum became the first company to bring CUDA-Q to its quantum systems, establishing a pioneering collaboration that continues to today. Users of CUDA-Q are currently offered access to Quantinuum’s System H1 QPU and emulator for 90 days.

Quantinuum’s future systems will continue to support the CUDA-Q platform. Furthermore, Quantinuum and NVIDIA are committed to evolving and improving tools for quantum classical integration to take advantage of the latest hardware features, for example, on our upcoming Helios generation. 

The Gen-Q-AI Moment

A few weeks ago, we disclosed high level details about an AI system that we refer to as Generative Quantum AI, or GenQAI. We highlighted a timeline between now and the end of this year when the first commercial systems that can accelerate both existing AI and quantum computers.

At a high level, an AI system such as GenQAI will be enhanced by access to information that has not previously been accessible. Information that is generated from a quantum computer that cannot be simulated. This information and its effect can be likened to a powerful microscope that brings accuracy and detail to already powerful LLM’s, bridging the gap from today’s impressive accomplishments towards truly impactful outcomes in areas such as biology and healthcare, material discovery and optimization.

Through the integration of the most powerful in quantum and classical systems, and by enabling tighter integration of AI with quantum computing, the NVAQC will be an enabler for the realization of the accelerated quantum supercomputer needed for GenQAI products and their rapid deployment and exploitation.

Innovating our Roadmap

The NVAQC will foster the tools and innovations needed for fully fault-tolerant quantum computing and will be enabler to the roadmap Quantinuum released last year.

With each new generation of our quantum computing hardware and accompanying stack, we continue to scale compute capabilities through more powerful hardware and advanced features, accelerating the timeline for practical applications. To achieve these advances, we integrate the best CPU and GPU technologies alongside our quantum innovations. Our long-standing collaboration with NVIDIA drives these advancements forward and will be further enriched by the NVAQC. 

Here are a couple of examples: 

In quantum error correction, error syndromes detected by measuring "ancilla" qubits are sent to a "decoder." The decoder analyzes this information to determine if any corrections are needed. These complex algorithms must be processed quickly and with low latency, requiring advanced CPU and GPU power to calculate and apply corrections keeping logical qubits error-free. Quantinuum has been collaborating with NVIDIA on the development of customized GPU-based decoders which can be coupled with our upcoming Helios system. 

In our application space, we recently announced the integration of InQuanto v4.0, the latest version of Quantinuum’s cutting edge computational chemistry platform, with NVIDIA cuQuantum SDK to enable previously inaccessible tensor-network-based methods for large-scale and high-precision quantum chemistry simulations.

Our work with NVIDIA underscores the partnership between quantum computers and classical processors to maximize the speed toward scaled quantum computers. These systems offer error-corrected qubits for operations that accelerate scientific discovery across a wide range of fields, including drug discovery and delivery, financial market applications, and essential condensed matter physics, such as high-temperature superconductivity.

We look forward to sharing details with our partners and bringing meaningful scientific discovery to generate economic growth and sustainable development for all of humankind.

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Blog
March 18, 2025
Setting the Benchmark: Independent Study Ranks Quantinuum #1 in Performance

By Dr. Chris Langer

In the rapidly advancing world of quantum computing, to be a leader means not just keeping pace with innovation but driving it forward. It means setting new standards that shape the future of quantum computing performance. A recent independent study comparing 19 quantum processing units (QPUs) on the market today has validated what we’ve long known to be true: Quantinuum’s systems are the undisputed leaders in performance.

The Benchmarking Study

A comprehensive study conducted by a joint team from the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, AIDAS, RWTH Aachen University, and Purdue University compared QPUs from leading companies like IBM, Rigetti, and IonQ, evaluating how well each executed the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), a widely used algorithm that provides a system level measure of performance. After thorough examination, the study concluded that:

“...the performance of quantinuum H1-1 and H2-1 is superior to that of the other QPUs.”

Quantinuum emerged as the clear leader, particularly in full connectivity, the most critical category for solving real-world optimization problems. Full connectivity is a huge comparative advantage, offering more computational power and more flexibility in both error correction and algorithmic design. Our dominance in full connectivity—unattainable for platforms with natively limited connectivity—underscores why we are the partner of choice in quantum computing.

Leading Across the Board

We take benchmarking seriously at Quantinuum. We lead in nearly every industry benchmark, from best-in-class gate fidelities to a 4000x lead in quantum volume, delivering top performance to our customers.

Our Quantum Charged-coupled Device (QCCD) architecture has been the foundation of our success, delivering consistent performance gains year-over-year. Unlike other architectures, QCCD offers all-to-all connectivity, world-record fidelities, and advanced features like real-time decoding. Altogether, it’s clear we have superior performance metrics across the board.

While many claim to be the best, we have the data to prove it. This table breaks down industry benchmarks, using the leading commercial spec for each quantum computing architecture.

TABLE 1. Leading commercial spec for each listed architecture or demonstrated capabilities on commercial hardware. Download Benchmarking Results

These metrics are the key to our success. They demonstrate why Quantinuum is the only company delivering meaningful results to customers at a scale beyond classical simulation limits.

Our progress builds upon a series of Quantinuum’s technology breakthroughs, including the creation of the most reliable and highest-quality logical qubits, as well as solving the key scalability challenge associated with ion-trap quantum computers — culminating in a commercial system with greater than 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity.

From our groundbreaking progress with System Model H2 to advances in quantum teleportation and solving the wiring problem, we’re taking major steps to tackle the challenges our whole industry faces, like execution speed and circuit depth. Advancements in parallel gate execution, faster ion transport, and high-rate quantum error correction (QEC) are just a few ways we’re maintaining our lead far ahead of the competition.

This commitment to excellence ensures that we not only meet but exceed expectations, setting the bar for reliability, innovation, and transformative quantum solutions. 

Onward and Upward

To bring it back to the opening message: to be a leader means not just keeping pace with innovation but driving it forward. It means setting new standards that shape the future of quantum computing performance.

We are just months away from launching Quantinuum’s next generation system, Helios, which will be one trillion times more powerful than H2. By 2027, Quantinuum will launch the industry’s first 100-logical-qubit system, featuring best-in-class error rates, and we are on track to deliver fault-tolerant computation on hundreds of logical qubits by the end of the decade. 

The evidence speaks for itself: Quantinuum is setting the standard in quantum computing. Our unrivaled specs, proven performance, and commitment to innovation make us the partner of choice for those serious about unlocking value with quantum computing. Quantinuum is committed to doing the hard work required to continue setting the standard and delivering on our promises. This is Quantinuum. This is leadership.

Dr. Chris Langer is a Fellow, a key inventor and architect for the Quantinuum hardware, and serves as an advisor to the CEO.

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Citations from Benchmarking Table
1 Quantinuum. System Model H2. Quantinuum, https://www.quantinuum.com/products-solutions/quantinuum-systems/system-model-h2
2 IBM. Quantum Services & Resources. IBM Quantum, https://quantum.ibm.com/services/resources
3 Quantinuum. System Model H1. Quantinuum, https://www.quantinuum.com/products-solutions/quantinuum-systems/system-model-h1
4 Google Quantum AI. Willow Spec Sheet. Google, https://quantumai.google/static/site-assets/downloads/willow-spec-sheet.pdf
5 Sales Rodriguez, P., et al. "Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation." arXiv, 19 Dec 2024, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.15165
6 Quantinuum. H1 Product Data Sheet. Quantinuum, https://docs.quantinuum.com/systems/data_sheets/Quantinuum%20H1%20Product%20Data%20Sheet.pdf
7 Google Quantum AI. Willow Spec Sheet. Google, https://quantumai.google/static/site-assets/downloads/willow-spec-sheet.pdf
8 Sales Rodriguez, P., et al. "Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation." arXiv, 19 Dec 2024, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.15165
9 Quantinuum. H2 Product Data Sheet. Quantinuum, https://docs.quantinuum.com/systems/data_sQuantinuum. H2 Product Data Sheet. Quantinuum,heets/Quantinuum%20H2%20Product%20Data%20Sheet.pdf
10 Google Quantum AI. Willow Spec Sheet. Google, https://quantumai.google/static/site-assets/downloads/willow-spec-sheet.pdf
11 Sales Rodriguez, P., et al. "Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation." arXiv, 19 Dec 2024, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.15165
12 Moses, S. A., et al. "A Race-Track Trapped-Ion Quantum Processor." Physical Review X, vol. 13, no. 4, 2023, https://journals.aps.org/prx/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevX.13.041052
13 Google Quantum AI and Collaborators. "Quantum Error Correction Below the Surface Code Threshold." Nature, vol. 638, 2024, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08449-y
14 Bluvstein, Dolev, et al. "Logical Quantum Processor Based on Reconfigurable Atom Arrays." Nature, vol. 626, 2023, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06927-3
15 DeCross, Matthew, et al. "The Computational Power of Random Quantum Circuits in Arbitrary Geometries." arXiv, Published on 21 June 2024, hhttps://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.02501
16 Montanez-Barrera, J. A., et al. "Evaluating the Performance of Quantum Process Units at Large Width and Depth." arXiv, 10 Feb. 2025, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.06471
17 Evered, Simon J., et al. "High-Fidelity Parallel Entangling Gates on a Neutral-Atom Quantum Computer." Nature, vol. 622, 2023, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06481-y
18 Ryan-Anderson, C., et al. "Realization of Real-Time Fault-Tolerant Quantum Error Correction." Physical Review X, vol. 11, no. 4, 2021, https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.041058
19 Carrera Vazquez, Almudena, et al. "Scaling Quantum Computing with Dynamic Circuits." arXiv, 27 Feb. 2024, https://arxiv.org/html/2402.17833v1
20 Moses, S.A.,, et al. "A Race Track Trapped-Ion Quantum Processor." arXiv, 16 May 2023, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.03828
21 Garcia Almeida, D., Ferris, K., Knanazawa, N., Johnson, B., Davis, R. "New fractional gates reduce circuit depth for utility-scale workloads." IBM Quantum Blog, IBM, 18 Nov. 2020, https://www.ibm.com/quantum/blog/fractional-gates
22 Ryan-Anderson, C., et al. "Realization of Real-Time Fault-Tolerant Quantum Error Correction." arXiv, 15 July 2021, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.07505
23 Google Quantum AI and Collaborators. “Quantum error correction below the surface code threshold.” arXiv, 24 Aug. 2024, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2408.13687v1
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Blog
March 16, 2025
APS Global Physics Summit 2025

The 2025 Joint March Meeting and April Meeting — referred to as the APS Global Physics Summit — is the largest physics research conference in the world, uniting 14,000 scientific community members across all disciplines of physics.  

The Quantinuum team is looking forward to participating in this year’s conference to showcase our latest advancements in quantum technology. Find us throughout the week at the below sessions and visit us at Booth 1001.

Join these sessions to discover how Quantinuum is advancing quantum computing

T11: Quantum Error Correction
Speaker: Natalie Brown
Date: Sunday, March 16th
Time: 8:00 – 8:12am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 261B (Level 2)

The computational power of random quantum circuits in arbitrary geometries
Session MAR-F34: Near-Term Quantum Resource Reduction and Random Circuits

Speaker: Matthew DeCross
Date: Tuesday, March 18th
Time: 8:00 – 8:12am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 256A (Level 2)

Topological Order from Measurements and Feed-Forward on a Trapped Ion Quantum Computer
Session MAR-F14: Realizing Topological States on Quantum Hardware

Speaker: Henrik Dreyer
Date: Tuesday, March 18th
Time: 9:12 – 9:48am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 158 (Level 1)

Trotter error time scaling separation via commutant decomposition
Session MAR-F34: Near-Term Quantum Resource Reduction and Random Circuits
Speaker: Yi-Hsiang Chen (Quantinuum)
Date: Tuesday, March 18th
Time: 10:00 – 10:12am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 256A (Level 2)

Squared overlap calculations with linear combination of unitaries
Session MAR-J35: Circuit Optimization and Compilation

Speaker: Michelle Wynne Sze
Date: Tuesday, March 18th
Time: 4:36 – 4:48pm
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 256B (Level 2)

High-precision quantum phase estimation on a trapped-ion quantum computer
Session MAR-L16: Quantum Simulation for Quantum Chemistry

Speaker: Andrew Tranter
Date: Wednesday, March 19th
Time: 9:48 – 10:00am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 160 (Level 1)

Robustness of near-thermal dynamics on digital quantum computers
Session MAR-L16: Quantum Simulation for Quantum Chemistry

Speaker: Eli Chertkov
Date: Wednesday, March 19th
Time: 10:12 – 10:24am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 160 (Level 1)

Floquet prethermalization on a digital quantum computer
Session MAR-Q09: Quantum Simulation of Condensed Matter Physics

Speaker: Reza Haghshenas
Date: Thursday, March 20th
Time: 10:00 – 10:12am
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 204C (Level 2)

Teleportation of a Logical Qubit on a Trapped-ion Quantum Computer
Session MAR-S11: Advances in QEC Experiments

Speaker: Ciaran Ryan-Anderson
Date: Thursday, March 20th
Time: 11:30 – 12:06pm
Location: Anaheim Convention Center, 155 (Level 1)

*All times in Pacific Standard Time

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