The United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced 15 of the 18 quantum computing companies chosen to enter the initial phase of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI).
The program aims to determine whether it's possible to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer within a decade and if any quantum computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033.
The chosen companies are based across the globe and include Alice & Bob, Atlantic Quantum, Atom Computing, Diraq, HPE, IonQ, Nord Quantique, Oxford Ionics, Photonic Inc., Quantinuum, Quantum Motion, Rigetti, Silicon Quantum Computing, and Xanadu.
Over the next six months, the companies will provide “comprehensive technical details of their concepts to show that they hold water and could plausibly lead to a transformative, fault-tolerant quantum computer in under 10 years,” Joe Altepeter, DARPA QBI program manager, said.
Companies that successfully complete Stage A will move to a yearlong Stage B, during which DARPA will analyze their research and development approach. A final Stage C will follow, where the QBI independent verification and validation (IV&V) team will test the companies' computer hardware.
"During Stage B, we'll thoroughly review all aspects of their R&D plans to see if they can go the distance — not just meet next year's milestones — and stand the test of trying to build a transformative technology on this kind of a timeline," Altepeter said. "Those who make it through Stages A and B will enter the final portion of the program, Stage C, where a full-size IV&V team will conduct real-time, rigorous evaluation of the components, subsystems, and algorithms – everything that goes into building a fault-tolerant quantum computer for real. And we’ll do all these evaluations without slowing the companies down."
In a statement, DARPA said QBI is not a competition between companies but instead is looking to evaluate the current landscape of commercial quantum computing efforts and “spot every company on a plausible path to a useful quantum computer.”
QBI is not the only quantum initiative currently being overseen by DARPA. In February 2025, it announced that Microsoft and PsiQuantum had entered the third and final phase of its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) initiative.
US2QC is a pilot program that was ultimately expanded to become QBI following the two companies’ successful completion of Stages A and B. The final phase of US2QC has the same technical goals as Stage C of QBI, DARPA said.
