DARPA Advances Four Quantum Firms to Stage C

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has advanced Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ to Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, moving their proposed quantum-computing systems into a phase focused on testing hardware and designs. The four companies were selected from 11 that entered Stage B. Microsoft and PsiQuantum had already reached Stage C through a parallel process, bringing the number of companies reported in the phase to six. The selection does not identify a winner or confirm that any company’s technology will meet the program’s goals. DARPA says Stage C will assess whether each design can be built as planned and operate as intended. The evaluation moves beyond development plans toward examination of the companies’ hardware and systems. The agency’s broader initiative is intended to assess whether a useful quantum computer can be built by 2033, with usefulness defined by computational value exceeding the cost of ownership and operation. The four newly selected companies use different approaches to building qubits, the basic units of quantum computers.