October 7, 2026 -- Four more organizations have advanced to the final stage of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), which seeks to determine whether any quantum computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation – meaning its computational value exceeds its cost – by the year 2033.

During the yearlong Stage B, QBI rigorously examined the organizations’ detailed research and development plans, including the technical risks that must be overcome, strategies for mitigating those risks, and the prototypes needed to demonstrate progress. In Stage C, QBI’s government evaluation team will work alongside the organizations to test whether their proposed utility-scale systems can ultimately be constructed as designed and operated as intended.

“Stage B is about putting the performers’ plans under a microscope: understanding the assumptions, identifying the risks, and determining whether the proposed development paths could plausibly get all the way to utility scale,” said QBI Managing Director Micah Stoutimore. “Stage C is where we begin moving from plans to proof. Our team will be closely scrutinizing the hardware and systems as they develop to determine whether the technology performs the way the models and roadmaps say it should.”

The following companies (listed with their qubit technology approach), have been selected for Stage C:

• Atom Computing: Boulder, Colorado (scalable arrays of neutral atoms)
• Diraq: Sydney, Australia (silicon CMOS spin qubits)
• IBM: Yorktown Heights, New York (quantum computing with modular superconducting processors)
• IonQ: College Park, Maryland (trapped-ion quantum computing)

These organizations join Microsoft and PsiQuantum, which advanced to Stage C following participation in a pilot precursor to QBI, the Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC).

QBI is not a competition between companies; it is not intended to pick winners and losers. Rather, it is designed to understand the current state of commercial quantum computing and assess whether different approaches offer credible paths to utility-scale operation in the near term.

Since its launch in mid-2024, QBI has evaluated over 20 companies pursuing a range of quantum computing approaches; Quandela is the most recent entrant, having joined Stage A in May 2026.

Earlier this year, DARPA issued a solicitation inviting new entrants to join Stage A and it is anticipated that additional companies that submitted proposals under this solicitation will be selected. Further, as the performers currently in Stages A and B progress, promotions into subsequent Stages are also expected, including additional companies advancing to Stage C in the near future.

“The quantum computing field is moving quickly, and we increasingly expect that someone will build a utility-scale quantum computer by 2033,” said Stoutimore. “What we don’t yet know is which team or teams, or which technical approach or approaches, will get there. That is exactly why QBI is evaluating each path on its own merits and continuing to bring promising new approaches into the initiative.”