Berkeley, CA, November 07, 2025 -- Atom Computing has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to proceed to the next stage of exploring how Atom’s highly-scalable neutral atom technology will realize utility-scale quantum computing in the near term.

Earlier this year, DARPA announced that Atom Computing was selected for Stage A of the  Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), an expansion of the existing Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program. The QBI aims to determine the possibility of building an industrially useful quantum computer much faster than conventional predictions.

Yesterday, DARPA announced that Atom Computing has been selected for Stage B of the QBI program, a year-long project during which participating companies are asked to describe an R&D development plan capable of realizing the utility-scale quantum computer, the risks associated with that plan and the planned risk mitigation steps, and the prototypes needed to burn down these risks. As part of the program, Microsoft has agreed to also provide algorithmic support and error correction codes to Atom Computing.

To realize a utility-scale quantum computer, Atom Computing leverages the scalability and flexibility of its technology, as well as multiple critical platform capabilities such as high-fidelity gate operations, all-to-all qubit connectivity, 1,000+ physical qubits, long coherence times, mid-circuit measurement with qubit reset and reuse, and novel networking technology. These capabilities enabled a joint demonstration with Microsoft of the entanglement of 24 logical qubits, and error detection, correction, and computation with 28 logical qubits. The team recently demonstrated a new set of platform capabilities which improve the quality, reliability, and robustness of logical qubits.

“Being selected to proceed to Stage B of the QBI program is an amazing opportunity for our team to demonstrate how Atom Computing will achieve utility-scale quantum computing”, said Dr. Ben Bloom, Founder and CEO of Atom Computing. “We are looking forward to working with the team at DARPA to deliver on the exciting promise of pushing state-of-the-art quantum computing technology to utility scale applications.”