IonQ Sees Fault-Tolerant Quantum Within Reach in 2 Years - MeriTalk

Details By: Grace Dille Sep 24, 2026 3:32 pm IonQ Sees Fault-Tolerant Quantum Within Reach in 2 Years IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi said advances in error correction could make fault-tolerant quantum systems affordable for governments and thousands of businesses within two 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. “This is a mission that we work with DARPA on,” de Masi said, adding that precision timing and navigation are increasingly important to national security and infrastructure resilience. IonQ received a $28 million contract extension from DARPA in August, with an additional $30 million option, to produce 125 optical atomic clocks for U.S. government customers under the agency’s It’s About Time program. More broadly, de Masi said IonQ continues to work closely with the White House and government partners on national security as federal policymakers increasingly treat quantum computing, sensing, networking, and cybersecurity as strategic technologies. “Our White House administration has also been powerful at driving policy and historic action,” de Masi said. In June, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at accelerating U.S. quantum technology development and speeding the federal government’s transition to post-quantum cryptography. IonQ is also expanding its computing footprint. The company unveiled its Superion 256 quantum computing platform earlier this month and said customer deliveries are slated to begin in 2027. On Wednesday, IonQ announced that a Superion 256 system will become the first quantum processor installed at NVIDIA’s Accelerated Quantum Research Center, where it will be connected with NVIDIA’s AI and supercomputing infrastructure. “We’re just getting started at IonQ, even though we’re 30 years in the making,” de Masi said.

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