Gaining an advantage in the global “Cyber Race” necessitates the formation of robust private-public partnerships that nurture the development of innovative computing technologies.
At the forefront of this revolution in American industry is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which through its Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program has selected Microsoft and PsiQuantum to advance to the validation and co-design phase in the development of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The initiative as a whole is tasked with determining if it is possible to build an industrial-use quantum computer faster than conventional projections, and this partnership between two talented industry leaders shows initial promise that the US is on the verge of utility-scale quantum computing.
Tech pioneer Microsoft is engaged in the development of one solution to the industrial quantum problem within its Azure Quantum Cloud platform based on topological qubits. Topological qubits process information faster than other qubits (quantum bits), and are expected to scale at a level suitable for completing complex calculations that exceed the capabilities of classical computers. Microsoft’s topological qubits have already led to monumental scientific breakthroughs, with researchers estimating that such a system would produce no more than one error for every trillion operations.
Similarly, PsiQuantum, a photonics and semiconductor startup, was selected during the program’s initial phase for offering a novel photonic approach to quantum scalability. PsiQuantum seeks to harness the untapped potential of photonics, an approach largely overlooked by the United States, to facilitate the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing capabilities through US2QC. Photonics have the potential to aid in fault-tolerant quantum systems as they provide solutions to tackling technical barriers to scale and error correction.
By combining the scientific breakthrough of Microsoft’s topological qubits with the technical promise of PsiQuantum’s photonic hardware, DARPA seeks to enable the rapid development of large-scale quantum solutions directly bolstering U.S. industry. Not only would the deployment of such technology position the U.S. as a global trailblazer in quantum computing, it would also spur domestic manufacturing, industry, and innovation. For example, utility-scale quantum computing could aid biochemical researchers in the discovery of new chemical compounds for use in lifesaving pharmaceutical drugs.
To read more about DARPA’s investments in groundbreaking quantum computing technology visit this link: https://www.darpa.mil/news/2025/quantum-computing-approaches.
