IonQ Sees Fault-Tolerant Quantum Within Reach in 2 Years

IonQ, a quantum computing hardware and software company, expects advances in quantum computing over the next two years to put fault-tolerant systems within reach of governments and thousands of businesses, CEO Niccolo de Masi said on Sept 24.

Speaking at the Quantum World Congress in College Park, Md., de Masi pointed to advances across IonQ’s computing, networking, sensing, and security portfolio as the company works to accelerate its roadmap and expand the use of quantum technologies beyond research settings.

“With this kind of progress, in just the next year or two, full fault tolerance will be affordable within grasp of enterprises not just in the Fortune 500, but Fortune 5000, and for state and local government of all sizes, both here in the Five Eyes and across our broader allied community,” de Masi said.

Fault tolerance is a key hurdle to building practical quantum computers because quantum bits, or qubits, are highly susceptible to errors. IonQ announced earlier this week that it demonstrated an end-to-end real-time quantum error correction decoder, which the company said removes a major bottleneck in fault-tolerant quantum computing.

De Masi also highlighted IonQ’s work with the federal government on precision timing and navigation. He said IonQ is working toward GPS capabilities that are 1,000 times more accurate for the United States and its allies using technologies that include atomic clocks, quantum computing, and satellite capabilities.