OXFORD, 11 July 2024 -- Oxford Ionics has demonstrated the highest performing quantum chip in the world, which can be produced at scale in a standard semiconductor fabrication plant.

Building stable, high-performance quantum computers is hugely challenging. It demands the creation of high-performance qubits and a way to control those qubits in a scalable way. Only one technology - trapped ions - has demonstrated the performance needed to build a useful quantum computer. However, until now, trapped ions have been difficult to scale as they are typically controlled by lasers.

Oxford Ionics has eliminated the need to use lasers to control qubits through the development of a patented Electronic Qubit Control system. This unique, embedded approach takes the highest performing qubit technology - trapped ions - and integrates everything needed to control them into a silicon chip that can be mass-produced using standard semiconductor manufacturing facilities and processes.    

Oxford Ionics has set industry records in both two-qubit gate and single-qubit gate performance (fidelity). Previous world records have been achieved with the use of error correction to reduce errors in hardware*. Oxford Ionics chips provide over twice the performance, without needing error correction, using 10x fewer qubits:

• Proven implementation of two-qubit gates with fidelities at the 99.97% level
• Proven implementation of single-qubit operations with 99.9992% fidelity

Building a useful quantum computer requires high performing single and two-qubit gate operations. Oxford Ionics’ significantly increased qubit performance means that powerful quantum computers can be built with far fewer qubits and that valuable commercial applications can be deployed before needing to implement complex and costly error correction techniques.

Together with the scalability of Oxford Ionics’ approach, these results indicate the dawn of useful quantum computing is far closer than previously thought. With proven engineering, Oxford Ionics will now build a scalable 256 qubit chip that can be manufactured on existing semiconductor production lines.

Dr Chris Ballance, co-founder and CEO of Oxford Ionics, said: “The industry’s biggest players have taken different paths towards the goal of making quantum computing a reality. From the outset, we have taken a ‘rocket ship’ approach - focusing on building robust technology by solving the really difficult challenges first. This has meant using novel physics and smart engineering to develop scalable, high performance qubit chips that do not need error correction to get to useful applications, and can be controlled on a classic semiconductor chip. Since we started in 2019, we have hit every target on our roadmap on time and today’s results validate our confidence in our approach. We are now able to focus on the commercialisation of our technology and delivering useful quantum computing at scale.”