Our quantum computing roadmap

Our focus is to unlock the full potential of quantum computing by developing a large-scale computer capable of complex, error-corrected computations. We're guided by a roadmap featuring six milestones that will lead us toward top-quality quantum computing hardware and software for meaningful applications.

Milestone one

Beyond classical

A quantum computer's ability to perform computations that can't reasonably be emulated on a classical computer opens a new realm of computing to be explored. In 2019, the team was able to demonstrate beyond classical computationThis achievement enabled the first step beyond classical computing and boldly into the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. with the Sycamore processor.

Our quantum system performed a target computation in 200 seconds that would have taken the best-known algorithms in the most powerful supercomputers at the time 10,000 years to accomplish. We provided early access to 10+ partners to advance the discovery of useful applications.

Blog post Paper
Milestone two

Quantum error correction

The construction of a truly useful quantum computer requires error-corrected qubitsQubits are inherently error prone & sensitive to their external environments. Even particles of light can disrupt the system. For meaningful computations to happen, these errors must be corrected. , known as a logical qubit. In 2023, the team achieved the first-ever demonstration of a logical qubit prototype, showing that it's possible to reduce errors by increasing the number of qubits in a scheme known as quantum error correction.

Through this work, the team was able to bring quantum error-correction beyond the theoretical to the practical, unlocking a clear path to large-scale useful quantum computers. With a logical qubit prototype, we expect to unlock beyond classical NISQ applications.

Blog post Paper
Milestone three

Building a long-lived logical qubit

We define a long-lived logical qubitThis is an engineering goal that requires the simultaneous development of every component of the quantum system. as one that is capable of performing one million computational steps with less than one error.

To get there, we need scalable error correction. This includes improving qubit performance, increasing the size of our architecture & infrastructure and refining error correction techniques. We aim to reduce errors by multiple orders of magnitude, even as we increase the number of qubits. Like milestone one, this milestone will also require a computational benchmark for an error-corrected quantum computer. This time, the quantum computation will have to be useful.

Milestone four

Creating a logical gate

The path to an error-corrected quantum computer needs both logical qubits and the ability to control those qubits to perform quantum gates.

Like classical computers, quantum computers have their own sets of universal gates for computation. This milestone is a demonstration of low error gates performed between logical qubits. And with the creation of logical gates, we expect to uncover a true error-corrected application.

Milestone five

Engineering scale up

Progress continues with the scaling up to 100 logical qubits tiled together and capable of high-fidelity gate operations.

With this engineering scale-up, we anticipate more than 3 error-corrected quantum computing applications will be available.

Milestone six

Large error-corrected quantum computer

Our final milestone requires us to push the limits of quantum computing in order to make, connect, and control 1 million qubits.

This is the final milestone in the development of a large error-corrected quantum computer, and we hope to significantly improve the lives of many people and revolutionize multiple industries, including medicine and sustainable technology. Upon achieving milestone 6, we plan to uncover 10+ error-corrected quantum computing applications.