IonQ Reports Achieving Quantum Performance Milestone Three Months Ahead of Schedule

Insider Brief

• IonQ announced that its scientists have achieved a record algorithmic qubit score of #AQ 64 on its Tempo system.
• The #AQ 64 benchmark indicates Tempo can address complex real-world applications across energy, drug discovery, engineering, supply chain optimization, and fraud detection, with a computational space of over 18 quintillion possibilities.
• IonQ reported that its systems outperformed IBM’s current offerings in key benchmarks, showing improvements of 35% in QAOA, 74% in QFT, and 182% in FAA solution quality.

PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the leader in the quantum computing and networking industries, today announced it has achieved a record algorithmic qubit score of #AQ 64. This milestone was achieved on an IonQ Tempo system, three months ahead of schedule, establishing IonQ as the only company to reach #AQ 64 setting a new standard for quantum systems.

#AQ benchmarks measure a quantum system’s ability to run quantum algorithms of increasing complexity and size while maintaining high fidelity. Achieving #AQ 64 indicates that IonQ’s quantum systems can address a set of increasingly complex real-world applications such as energy grid distribution improvements, computational drug discovery, engineering simulation modeling, supply chain optimization, and enhanced fraud and anomaly detection.

With each increment in #AQ value, the useful computational space for running quantum algorithms doubles. A system with #AQ 64 is capable of considering more than 18 quintillion (i.e., 2^64) different possibilities – more than 268,435,456 times more powerful than #AQ 36 (i.e., 2^36) which IonQ achieved nine months ago.

With #AQ 64, IonQ Tempo – the company’s fifth-generation quantum computer – is expected to be capable of commercial advantage for certain applications, with a computational space that is 36 quadrillion times larger than IBM’s current publicly available quantum systems.

“Achieving #AQ 64 marks a pivotal moment in our journey to unlock broad quantum advantage,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “This accomplishment reflects the maturity of our hardware, software, and applications stack, and reinforces our leadership in making quantum systems commercially valuable today. We estimate that in certain cases, our Tempo systems will perform quantum calculations that would otherwise require up to 1 billion GPUs to simulate, while consuming dramatically less energy and occupying a much smaller physical footprint.”

In addition to the number of physical qubits in its products, going forward IonQ will report additional metrics such as logical qubits, logical error rates, and a collection of industry-relevant application benchmarks. These practical benchmarks will offer customers a direct view of how IonQ’s systems can add value in their industries, with clear measurements on accuracy, cost, duration, and energy.

The company highlighted a few new commercially-relevant benchmark comparisons during its recent Analyst Day. The comparisons showed how IonQ’s Aria and Forte systems outperformed IBM’s current systems by a wide margin:

1. 35% improvement in solution quality, running an optimization algorithm (QAOA) used for solving complex problems where exact solutions are infeasible – such as in finance, logistics, materials, pharma, AI/ML, energy, and more.
2. 74% improvement in solution quality, running a foundation algorithm (QFT) used for mapping quantum states into frequency space for cryptography, chemistry, and signal processing.
3. 182% improvement in solution quality, running a search algorithm (FAA) for large and noisy datasets, relevant in optimization, AI/ML, security, and beyond.

This news follows IonQ’s announcements of its accelerated technology roadmap, securing a majority stake in ID Quantique, and its acquisitions of Qubitekk, Lightsynq, Oxford Ionics, in addition to the recently announced intent to acquire Vector Atomic. IonQ continues to set the pace for the quantum computing and networking industries, delivering solutions that are not only more powerful, but also more practical for solving real-world challenges.