A three-minute video on the companies leading in quantum computing, the error-correction milestones of the past year, and the company targets to watch through 2033.
About 3:05 • no narration • sources credited on screen • as of 11:10 AM PT, Saturday, October 17, 2026
Key takeaways (click to open)
IBM Nighthawk r2: 120 qubits and 218 couplers, with 100,000+ circuits per second, about 25 times IBM’s Heron (about 4,000 per second) (IBM). The Sept. 2, 2026 release date comes from Quantum Computing Report; IBM’s blog says “now available” without a date.
Google Quantum AI: on Oct. 15, 2026 Google reported magic state cultivation on its Willow processor, published in Science, with about 40× error reduction and 99.99% logical T-state fidelity; Google says larger-scale demonstrations are still needed (Google).
IonQ Superion 256 (announced Sept. 8, 2026): 256-qubit chips made with SkyWater, with customer deliveries planned for 2027 (IonQ).
DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative: on Oct. 7, 2026 DARPA said Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ advanced to Stage C, joining Microsoft and PsiQuantum; the program asks whether utility-scale quantum computing is possible by 2033 (DARPA).
Roadmap dates in the video (for example IBM Starling in 2029, Quantinuum Sol in 2027 and Apollo in 2029, QuEra Libra in 2028) are company goals and may change. Company-reported figures are as reported by the companies or journals; Microsoft’s Majorana 2 claims are disputed by independent physicists (Science).
Notes (click to open)
The Nighthawk r2 release date (Sept. 2, 2026) comes from Quantum Computing Report; IBM’s blog gives no date.
The lattice drawing of Nighthawk r2 in the video is illustrative only, not the actual chip layout.
Full credits appear in the video.
Original Rio Dell Times video. Company names and marks belong to their owners and are used for news reporting and education.
