DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) Advances with Eleven Teams Moving to Stage B - Quantum Computing Report

DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) Advances with Eleven Teams Moving to Stage B DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), a program dedicated to a rigorous verification and validation process for achieving utility-scale quantum computing by 2033, has advanced, with eleven companies now entering the year-long Stage B. The ultimate goal is to definitively prove whether a quantum computing approach can deliver computational value that exceeds its cost within the next eight years. Stage B Focus: R&D Blueprint for Utility-Scale QC The newly promoted teams, following a six-month characterization of their concepts in Stage A, will now focus on developing detailed R&D plans in Stage B. This phase requires identifying and mitigating associated technical risks, as well as specifying the necessary risk-reduction prototypes. Success in this stage will lead to the final stage, where a government verification and validation team will assess the feasibility of constructing and operating the proposed utility-scale quantum computer. Stage B will last for approximately one year with a maximum award of up to $15 million. A significant challenge in QBI is the technological heterogeneity of the field, which mirrors the absence of a single dominant architecture. The eleven teams selected for Stage B represent a diverse portfolio of qubit technologies: Neutral Atoms: Atom Computing, QuEra Computing Trapped Ions: IonQ, Quantinuum Superconducting: IBM, Nord Quantique (with bosonic error correction) Silicon Spin Qubits: Diraq (CMOS), Photonic Inc. (optically-linked), Quantum Motion (MOS-based), Silicon Quantum Computing Pty. Ltd. (precision atoms in silicon) Photonic: Xanadu DARPA emphasizes that QBI is not a winnowing competition. Each company’s approach is evaluated on its own merits against the utility-scale objective. The outcome is not predetermined; multiple, single, or even no participants may ultimately demonstrate a viable path to an industrially useful quantum computer by 2033. The core mission is the thorough, unbiased evaluation necessary to ascertain the true potential and timeline of the technology. While these eleven teams are the first to progress to Stage B, DARPA anticipates additional teams may advance from earlier stages as their staggered timelines allow for continued evaluation and promotion. Companies that participated in Stage A, but are not shown in this initial list include Alice & Bob, Atlantic Quantum, Google, HP Enterprise, Oxford Ionics, and Rigetti.

Since Atlantic Quantum and Oxford Ionics have been absorbed by Google and IonQ, respectively, it is not a surprise that these companies aren’t shown. Some of the others may still be in contract negotiation with DARPA and may be added once the negotiations are complete. For more about this Stage B selection, read DARPA’s announcement here. For additional information about this Quantum Benchmarking Initiative effort, read previous articles we have published in the Quantum Computing Report here, here, and here. In addition, several of the chosen firms have issued their own press releases about their selection. You can view the ones from Photonic Inc. here, from IonQ here, from IBM here, from Diraq here, from QuEra here, from Quantinuum here, from Xanadu here, from Silicon Quantum Computing here, from Nord Quantique here, from Atom Computing here, and from Quantum Motion here.