IonQ Appoints Dr. Eric Ball and Timothy Baxter to Board of Directors Board Additions Support Next Phases of IonQ Growth COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Aug. 25, 2026 — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading full-stack quantum platform and foundry, today announced the appointment of two new board members: technology finance expert Dr. Eric Ball, and former SkyWater Technology Chairman and Samsung North America CEO Timothy Baxter. Each brings accretive experience to support IonQ’s next phases of expansion. “We’re making the leap to rapid scalability in quantum computing manufacturing, in parallel with integrating all components of our unique quantum platform,” said IonQ Chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi. “Our responsibilities as the leading quantum merchant supplier are significant, as are the advances we expect to make in quantum computing due to our pioneering vertical integration. Eric and Tim bring complementary insights and firsthand expertise to our Board and leadership team.” Dr. Ball has nearly 40 years in senior financial roles at public companies, among them AT&T, Cisco, and Flextronics, including 10 years as Senior Vice President and Treasurer at Oracle. There, he arranged $52 billion of financing and served on the M&A teams for over 100 acquisitions. The author of two books, with a PhD in Management Economics, Dr. Ball has also taught economics at three universities and is a member of multiple corporate and non-profit boards. Timothy Baxter was Chairman of the SkyWater Technology Board of Directors until the company’s recently completed acquisition by IonQ. With over 40 years of experience leading major technology companies, including senior management roles at AT&T, Sony, and Samsung, where he rose to CEO of Samsung, North America. He helped launch numerous next generation technologies including 5G, HDTV and Blu-ray and currently serves on several private and publicly traded boards. About IonQ IonQ, Inc. [NYSE:
Aug 26, 2026 · via ionq.com
UCLA Computer Scientists Jason Cong and Jens Palsberg to Co-Lead 2 NSF Quantum Computing Institutes The combined $75 million in grants aims to overcome critical barriers between today’s quantum systems and practical computing Courtesy of the National Science Foundation The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are taking on some of the hardest scientific hurdles in the global race to create powerful quantum-based technologies. UCLA Samueli Newsroom Two computer scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have been selected as co-principal investigators on separate quantum computing institutes funded by the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes (QLCI). The five-year grants of $37.5 million each will support two research institutes aimed at overcoming fundamental barriers in quantum information science and accelerating the development of quantum technologies for practical applications. The two institutes are part of eight QLCI awards totaling more than $290 million announced today by the NSF to propel U.S. quantum science in the global race to create powerful quantum technologies. The investment is an expansion of the QLCI program created in 2020 following the passage of the National Quantum Initiative Act in 2018. Newly Established NSF Institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications The institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications (FTQSAA) is one of three newly formed institutes in the program led by Harvard University, with UCLA Samueli and MIT serving as co-leads. The multi-institutional research team will focus on developing quantum systems that can reliably perform useful computations despite the errors and noise that disrupt quantum devices. The researchers will integrate fault-tolerant design across quantum hardware, software, algorithms and applications to maximize quantum systems’ ability to solve previously intractable problems in fields ranging from drug and materials discovery to particle physics and cosmology. Jason Cong, a distinguished professor of computer science at UCLA Samueli
Aug 25, 2026 · via samueli.ucla.edu
- Agentic AI is automating cyberattacks at machine speed and widening the cyber blast radius - Harvest-now-decrypt-later campaigns make quantum computing an immediate national security threat - Join the agentic AI and quantum risk panel at the 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24 The cyber landscape is being upended by emerging threats driven by advanced technologies. Agentic artificial intelligence tools are automating cyberattacks, accelerating the time it takes to infiltrate systems and exfiltrate data at scale. Quantum computing is about to further complicate cybersecurity as it threatens to break traditional cryptography that has protected networks and systems for decades. The intelligence community has identified AI and quantum computing as the two defining technological challenges to national security in its Annual Threat Assessment, or ATA. Issued in March, the report identifies the biggest threats facing the United States. At the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24, agentic AI and quantum computing will be evaluated as cybersecurity and national security threats. Technology experts from industry will join the Agentic AI and Quantum Risk: The Blast Radius Problem in Classified Environments panel to understand the evolving threat landscape and identify strategies to protect the nation’s critical systems and data from AI- and quantum-enabled cyberattacks. Register here! How Has Agentic AI Been Used in Cyberattacks? Cyber threat actors associated with China and North Korea have already been observed utilizing AI for reconnaissance and vulnerability exploitation. Anthropic’s November 2025 disclosure that Claude Code, its AI coding assistant, was manipulated by a Chinese state-sponsored group to infiltrate targets, including financial institutions and government agencies, demonstrates the severity of the AI-powered cyberthreat. First Documented AI-Enabled Zero-Day Exploit In May, researchers from Google Threat Intelligence Group identified a zero-day exploit that was developed using AI. According to the team, the cybercrime group intended to use
Aug 25, 2026 · via executivebiz.com
Oak Ridge National Laboratory workshop brings together researchers and developers to address the software challenges of integrating quantum computers with high-performance computing systems. Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have formed six technical working groups to begin developing key components of an open, vendor-neutral software stack for hybrid quantum and high-performance computing. The groups were established during the second annual Open Quantum-HPC Software Ecosystem (OpenQSE) workshop, held on the final day of ORNL's 2026 Quantum Computing User Forum. The initiative is focused on developing the software infrastructure needed to integrate quantum processing units with classical HPC systems. From discussion to implementation The workshop marked a shift for OpenQSE from identifying the challenges of quantum-HPC integration towards developing specific technical deliverables. The six working groups will focus on compilers, resource interfaces, system architecture, software architecture, application runtimes and control electronics. Participants were tasked with identifying priorities, defining responsibilities and establishing milestones for development over the coming year. A central objective is to create common interfaces and specifications that allow quantum and classical resources to work together without tying applications to a particular quantum hardware provider or software platform. Hybrid quantum-classical computing is expected to remain an important model for scientific applications as quantum processors will be used for specialised workloads alongside conventional CPUs, GPUs and supercomputers. However, integrating these different computing resources presents significant software challenges. Quantum processors have distinct requirements for job scheduling, compilation, data movement, control and feedback, whereas HPC systems rely on mature software environments to manage large-scale workloads. OpenQSE is intended to address this fragmentation through an open, modular framework that allows different components of the quantum-HPC stack to interoperate. The longer-term goal is to make it easier for researchers and developers to build applications that can operate across diverse quantum
Aug 25, 2026 · via scientific-computing.com
In October 2019, I wrote a Forbes article describing how the United States and China were locked in “the world’s most important technology race.” At that time, the situation was relatively straightforward. China had just launched its national quantum strategy aimed at achieving technological self-sufficiency. President Xi Jinping had invested billions into a vast quantum computing initiative with the expectation of achieving significant breakthroughs by 2030. The U.S. had already signed the National Quantum Initiative Act that authorized $1.2 billion in spending over five years. At the time, I didn’t believe that the level of funding was sufficient to match the Chinese commitments. In 2019, the U.S. had a lead in quantum computing primarily as a result of heavy investments made by IBM, Google and Microsoft. (Note: My firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, provides advisory and related services to many tech companies — including, from this article, Google, IBM and Microsoft. We have previously had paid business relationships with Atom Computing, D-Wave, GlobalFoundries, IonQ, Quantinuum and Rigetti Computing.) At that time, the only technology lead China had over the United States was in quantum communications. Scott Aaronson, a top theoretical computer scientist at the University of Texas, said that China held an edge in quantum communications simply because they chose to invest heavily in that area while the U.S. had opted to maintain its strong lead in quantum computation. His reasoning made sense. Google had just claimed quantum supremacy by solving a problem in 200 seconds that would take a classical computer thousands of years to solve — a quantum computation feat that China was not likely to match anytime soon. My chief concern in 2019 was that additional federal funding was needed because the quantum race would unfold over decades, not months, and therefore required a long-term financial commitment.
Aug 25, 2026 · via forbes.com
Agencies should be doing the analogous work now, for their own missions, regardless of where the hardware ends up. Federal agencies are building real momentum in quantum computing, and the scope of that effort is genuinely thoughtful. The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Naval Research Laboratory recently signed a cooperative agreement in 2023 to exchange technical expertise and collaborate on quantum computing capabilities for the Defense Department, one of several such efforts exploring how quantum-accelerated modeling and simulation can support aerospace and defense missions. The White House’s June executive order directs the secretaries of Commerce, Defense and Energy, along with the NASA administrator, to develop five-year plans for deploying quantum-enabled sensors and networks. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative has moved more than a dozen companies into staged evaluations of whether a genuinely useful quantum computer can exist by 2033. By nearly every measure, the government is treating quantum as a serious, long-term priority worth building on. The opportunity now is to make sure this momentum translates into mission capability, not just experimentation. The Government Accountability Office offered a constructive data point on this earlier this year. In a report examining roughly $200 million a year in federal quantum computing spending across multiple agencies, GAO pointed to a chance for the National Quantum Initiative’s implementing strategy to more clearly assign roles and responsibilities, build out performance measures, and knit individual agency plans into a coherent whole. In other words, agencies have already done the hard part, running rigorous experiments. The next step is building the connective tissue that turns those experiments into acquisition-ready programs. That’s a solvable problem, and agencies are well-positioned to solve it, especially if they start defining mission-specific problems now rather than waiting for a single hardware milestone to arrive. Join us Oct.
Aug 25, 2026 · via federalnewsnetwork.com
$37.5M NSF award aims to define new quantum frontiers, take technology from lab to field A scientific quest to build more accurate clocks, faster computers and new sensors to detect the faintest signs of disease and disaster is getting a $37.5 million financial boost. The U.S. National Science Foundation, through its Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, is investing in the next phase of CU Boulder and its partners’ work to advance quantum science research and engineering. “We’re really world leaders in terms of building the best quantum technology tools and applying them to meaningful, impactful scientific problems,” said physicist Jun Ye, a JILA fellow leading the quantum research center based at CU Boulder. “There are still a lot of unknowns in the universe, and only by building some of the most sensitive instruments can we get some clue of what is behind them.” Those instruments include the next generation of atomic clocks, the world’s most stable laser and sensitive biomedical sensors that can detect disease more quickly in human breath. Ye leads the NSF Quantum Systems through Entangled Science and Engineering (NSF Q-SEnSE) center. It launched at CU Boulder in 2020 with a $25 million award from NSF and has grown to include 39 researchers from 16 institutions. “This is another example of the innovative, impactful research happening at CU Boulder, building on more than 60 years of JILA, NIST and quantum science breakthroughs,” said CU Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz. "This funding will accelerate the development of transformative technologies, support the growth of Colorado’s thriving quantum ecosystem and further strengthen Boulder’s position as a global hub for quantum innovation in which CU Boulder continues to play a key role.” Quantum research led by CU Boulder is already helping develop tools that can measure molecules, atoms and other tiny things much more
Aug 25, 2026 · via colorado.edu
RIT part of NSF-funded Quantum Leap Challenge Institute Professor Ben Zwickl is co-PI on $37.5 million grant Rochester Institute of Technology is building its eminence in quantum research as part of a $37.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) award for large-scale interdisciplinary research projects known as Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes. The goal of the project, led by Yale University, is to advance the science and engineering of practical quantum error by creating a community of physicists, engineers, computer scientists, and chemists who contribute to the realization of large-scale, error-corrected quantum hardware. Called the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Physics and Engineering of Practical Quantum Error Correction (NSF PRACTIQAL), the grant is one of eight awarded to large-scale interdisciplinary research centers. Along with RIT, co-PIs come from Virginia Tech and University of California San Diego. RIT’s involvement will focus on education and workforce development, led by Ben Zwickl, professor of physics. Zwickl and his team will manage center-wide professional development for undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty; manage exchange programs within the center; and conduct education research and lead curriculum development related to the quantum error correction and the societal benefits of quantum technology. “I’m excited to work with such an outstanding team of scientists and engineers at Yale, Virginia Tech, and elsewhere,” said Zwickl. “Our work at RIT will help take their advanced ideas about quantum error correction and make them accessible for a wide range of learners. We also want to shift the dialog around quantum education to include the people and communities impacted by the practical quantum technologies envisioned by PRACTIQAL. The QLCI will support the expansion of our minor in quantum information science and technology to include a new hands-on interdisciplinary quantum technology laboratory course, as well as provide support for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers.”
Aug 25, 2026 · via rit.edu
Japan’s first operational full-stack neutral-atom quantum computer, which packs approximately 50 qubits at launch and could eventually reach 500, has just been switched on. Called Shunkai, the system was designed by a research team led by Kenji Ohmori, PhD, a chemist and a renowned Japanese professor at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), part of Japan’s National Institutes of Natural Sciences. The machine officially went live on August 24. Shunkai is powered by a quantum processing unit (QPU) supplied by Colorado-based quantum technology company Infleqtion. The company was also the only foreign quantum partner selected by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for its Quantum Moonshot program. The program is a Japanese government effort aimed at developing fault-tolerant universal quantum computers by the year 2050. “This milestone marks a pivotal moment for Japan’s quantum ambitions as well as Infleqtion’s role in advancing production-ready quantum platforms at scale,” Pranav Gokhale, Infleqtion CTO, pointed out. Japan’s quantum ambitions According to Infleqtion, Shunkai will initially run with 50 qubits before expanding to around 500 as development progresses. Neutral-atom quantum computers use individual atoms as qubits, the basic units of quantum information. They can run at room temperature without large refrigeration systems. Also, the atoms can be trapped and manipulated with precisely controlled laser light. This allows scientists to connect different qubits and also tailor their layout to specific algorithms. More from Innovation See All Because neutral atoms can be arranged in large arrays while maintaining precise control over their quantum states, the technology is considered a promising route toward much larger quantum computers. It could make it easier for engineers to build computers with more qubits while preserving quantum information. Infleqtion shared that its QPU helped the Japanese team move from research and development toward an operational full-stack computing platform. “Our quantum
Aug 25, 2026 · via interestingengineering.com
IBM announced it has successfully joined and cooled down two cryogenic modules into a single environment. The new architecture is designed to scale into the modular, shared, and ultra-cold system required to link hundreds of quantum chips into a more powerful quantum computer capable of solving large problems. Its deployment is a milestone on IBM's path to delivering IBM Quantum Starling in 2029, which is expected to be the world's first fault-tolerant quantum computer and will integrate advances across error correction, processor design, decoding, and systems engineering. Combined, the first two operational modules stand more than 8 feet tall and 8 feet wide, and initial tests demonstrated they can jointly cool down to 4 Kelvin (the temperature of liquid helium) in under 5 days, reaching a final temperature of below 15 millikelvin shortly after. Each module’s vacuum enclosure offers up to 12 times more wiring space than the most widely used IBM quantum systems, enabling more chip-to-chip connections both within and between modules. IBM’s new box-shaped design allows modules to connect in a tight row and use this larger space to directly link quantum processors with IBM’s “L-coupler” technology. L-couplers connect separate quantum chips together to share information, communicate, and operate as part of a larger quantum computer. By 2027, IBM’s quantum roadmap plans to use L-couplers to link multiple processors into a larger quantum computer with at least 1,000 programmable qubits, which are qubits that can be directly used to perform computations. Towards this goal, IBM will install IBM Quantum Nighthawk processors into the cryogenic modules later this year to expand operational performance testing. At the time Starling is delivered, IBM plans for each cryogenic module to house thousands of qubits. IBM’s plans for Starling were introduced last year with a new error correction code that dramatically reduces the
Aug 25, 2026 · via portalerp.com
August 25, 2026 | News & Notices CVC Fund âShimadzu Future Innovation Fundâ Invests in OptQC, a Developer of Optical Quantum Computers Expected to Advance Next-Generation R&D Infrastructure for Drug Discovery and Materials Development Shimadzu Corporation has invested in OptQC Inc. (OptQC), a startup originating from The University of Tokyo, through its Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) fund, âShimadzu Future Innovation Fundâ (Shimadzu FIF). OptQC is developing optical quantum computers. Shimadzu has a long history of developing analytical and measuring instruments, including spectrophotometers, as well as laser light sources. Shimadzu has also accumulated expertise in photonics technologies, as demonstrated by the launch of the world's first strontium optical lattice clock, "Aetherclock OC020," in March 2025. This marks Shimadzu's first investment in the quantum technology statup. Quantum computers are next-generation information processing technologies that utilize the principles of quantum mechanics. They are expected to solve complex computational problems that would take conventional supercomputers an enormous amount of time, with potential applications in drug discovery, materials development, semiconductor research, and other fields. Various approaches to quantum computing, including superconducting, trapped-ion systems, and optical systems, are currently under development. However, no standard technology has yet been established, and global competition to develop practical quantum computers is intensifying. The Japanese government is also promoting the advancement of quantum technologies as a strategic priority. OptQC is developing optical quantum computers. Its technology is based on an optical quantum computing approach established by Professor Akira Furusawa and his research team at the Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. A key feature of this approach is that the system does not need to become significantly larger as the number of qubits increases. In addition, unlike superconducting quantum computers, which require operation at extremely low temperatures, optical quantum computers can operate at room temperature and atmospheric pressure,
Aug 25, 2026 · via shimadzu.com
How Quantum Computing Could Improve Generative AI: What a New Drug-Discovery Study Reveals Article Highlights A newly published, peer-reviewed study in Scientific Reports offers some of the clearest evidence yet that annealing quantum computers could meaningfully improve the outputs of generative AI models. - Conducted in collaboration between D-Wave and Shionogi & Co., Ltd.: the researchers used a D-Wave annealing quantum computer to improve how an AI model designs new drug candidate molecules. - The quantum-assisted model generated molecules that were more chemically valid and more “drug-like” than those produced by an equivalent classical-only AI model. - The implications of this research for AI are not limited to drug discovery: based on the results, annealing quantum computing could act as a general-purpose stochastic generator inside generative AI, sampling more effectively from the “in-between” spaces that a model hasn’t directly seen in training. These results show promising evidence that annealing quantum computing can act as a practical enhancement to AI today. By Mohsen Rahmani, Matthew Woolway, Vladimir Vargas-Calderón, William Kim, Kevin Chern, and Mohammad Amin A newly published, peer-reviewed study in Scientific Reports offers some of the clearest evidence yet that annealing quantum computers could meaningfully improve the outputs of generative AI models. The research, titled “Molecular design beyond training data with novel extended objective functionals of generative AI models driven by quantum annealing computer,” was conducted in collaboration between D-Wave and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (“Shionogi”) (formerly the pharmaceutical division of Japan Tobacco). Together, we used a D-Wave™ annealing quantum computer to improve how an AI model designs new drug candidate molecules. The result: molecules that were more chemically valid and more “drug-like” than those produced by an equivalent classical-only AI model. The molecules generated by the quantum-assisted model even exceeded the quality of the very data the model was
Aug 25, 2026 · via dwavequantum.com
MCS researchers receive INCITE awards to accelerate scientific discovery MCS Menu Researchers in the Mathematics and Computer Science division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory will participate in three mission-critical projects on DOE leadership-class computers. The projects — in computer science, Earth sciences and engineering — have been awarded supercomputing time through DOE’s Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program. Computer Science Jeffrey Larson will join researchers from JPMorgan Chase in a new project titled “Evaluating the Performance of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm” (QAOA). The researchers will develop numerical techniques to predict the performance of QAOA for arbitrarily large problems beyond those feasible with classical simulations. The project has received 40,000 node-hours on Argonne’s Polaris system and 200,000 node-hours on Argonne’s Aurora supercomputer to test the novel techniques. Aurora and Polaris are housed at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility. “Our aim is to be able to make comparisons with classical solvers and clarify requirements for quantum advantage — where a quantum computer can execute a computational task faster and more accurately than leading-class supercomputers,” Larson said. Earth Sciences Azamat Mametjanov will participate with colleagues from four national laboratories in a new project titled “Energy Exascale Earth System Model.” The project, led by DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will evaluate the atmospheric model SCREAM using real-world simulations across the United States. The team has been awarded 1 million node-hours on Aurora at Argonne and 600,000 node hours on Frontier at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Our goal is to achieve an unprecedented 200-meter resolution,” the team project states. Engineering Paul Fischer and Misun Min will continue work with their colleagues on the project “Advancing Fusion and Fission Energy through Exascale,” led by Pennsylvania State University.
Aug 24, 2026 · via anl.gov
5TB cloud storage and no monthly fees — only $170 through Aug. 25 TL;DR: Internxt is a private, encrypted cloud storage with a 5TB lifetime subscription on sale for $170 through August 25. Renting cloud storage means paying every month just to keep your files safe. The longer you keep a subscription running, the worse of a deal it becomes. If you want a smarter option, Internxt is a new cloud storage platform offering 5TB of cloud storage for a one-time fee, and it’s even on sale. Get an Internxt 5TB lifetime subscription for $169.97 (reg. $1,900) while you can. Before a file leaves your computer, Internxt scrambles it, so you’re the only one who can read it. Even Internxt doesn’t know what you’re uploading. Google Drive and Dropbox don’t even do that. On the way up, your files are split into encrypted pieces, so anyone who grabs one only gets a useless chunk. Internxt also uses post-quantum encryption, so even if quantum computers ever become something people just have, your files should still be safe. There’s also AES-256 encryption to protect against modern threats. You can access your files from anywhere with apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, plus a web version. You can also connect as many devices as you want, and each file can be as large as 10GB Internxt’s code is public on GitHub. That means anyone can audit how it works and make sure it holds up to the hype. The service is GDPR compliant, and they’ve even been audited by Securitum. TechRadar gave it four out of five stars. You don’t have to pay for cloud storage every month. Until Aug. 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT, get a 5TB Internxt Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription for $169.97. StackSocial prices subject to change. Topics
Aug 24, 2026 · via mashable.com
HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Bin Talal will chair the board of Pasqal Arabia, a new commercial venture established by Pasqal and Eleven Ventures to deploy multiple quantum computing systems within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the broader MENA region. The announcement coincides with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s State Visit to France, signaling a strengthening of cooperation in quantum computing and artificial intelligence. “We believe that quantum computing is at a similar stage to where artificial intelligence was a few years ago, poised for significant change,” said Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Bin Talal, aiming to position the Kingdom as a regional hub for the developing technology and advance its Vision 2030 ambitions. Pasqal and Eleven Ventures Scale Quantum Computing in Saudi Arabia This initiative intends to position Saudi Arabia as a regional hub for quantum technology, directly supporting the nation’s Vision 2030 goals for advancement in artificial intelligence and computing. The joint venture will build local talent and expertise to develop quantum computing within the Kingdom, rather than simply accessing it from abroad. “The Kingdom has moved faster than most markets to turn advanced computing into national capability,” said Dr. Wasiq Bokhari, Chief Executive Officer of Pasqal. “We believe this joint venture places Pasqal’s quantum systems inside the Kingdom, designed to scale with the region’s ambition.” The venture plans to deploy systems in the Kingdom in the coming years, offering commercial access to quantum infrastructure and addressing growing regional demand for high-performance computing. Pasqal, founded in 2019, currently employs approximately 300 people and serves over 25 clients and partners including Saudi Aramco and LG Electronics, the company says. This time, the Kingdom and the region are not observing from a distance, but are taking the lead, and Pasqal is a partner that shares that ambition. Together, the
Aug 24, 2026 · via quantumzeitgeist.com
Infleqtion’s quantum processing unit advances Japan’s first operational full-stack neutral-atom quantum computer, reinforcing momentum toward scalable quantum systems. LOUISVILLE, Colo. | August 24, 2026 | Infleqtion (NYSE: INFQ), a global leader in quantum computing and quantum sensing powered by neutral-atom technology, has helped Japan reach a major quantum milestone, supporting a research team led by Professor Kenji Ohmori at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), part of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, in launching the country’s first operational neutral-atom full-stack quantum computer. Infleqtion was also the only foreign quantum partner selected by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for its Quantum Moonshot program. Infleqtion contributed its quantum processing unit to the program, in collaboration with the Ohmori group at IMS, as one of the principal investigators of the Moonshot project led by Professor Ohmori, supporting the transition from research and development to an operational full-stack quantum computing platform. The system, referred to as “Shunkai”, is initially expected to operate with approximately 50 qubits, with plans to scale to around 500 qubits as development progresses. “This milestone marks a pivotal moment for Japan’s quantum ambitions as well as Infleqtion’s role in advancing production-ready quantum platforms at scale,” said Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer at Infleqtion. “Bringing a full-stack quantum system into production operation is a meaningful step toward fault-tolerant quantum computing that also serves as strong validation of neutral-atom architecture. Our quantum processing unit delivers the programmability, scalability and fidelity control that next-generation systems demand.” As part of the next phase of the Ohmori Moonshot project that has just started in April 2026, the IMS team will focus on improving system integration, stability, and scalability, with the goal of realizing a high-performance neutral-atom fault-tolerant quantum computer with up to 10,000 physical qubits and quantum error detection and correction capabilities.
Aug 24, 2026 · via infleqtion.com
GSA Leads the Transition to Quantum-Resistant Technology Post filed in: Emerging Technology | IT | Innovation | Technology | cybersecurity As the Administration advances its updated Cyber Strategy [PDF] and new Executive Order on Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation, GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy, Federal Identity & Cybersecurity Division has been entrusted with critical responsibilities for protecting federal identity and building access systems, including supporting the governmentwide migration to post-quantum cryptography outlined in OMB Memorandum M-26-15 [PDF]. This important guidance directs federal agencies to move faster toward quantum-resistant security measures, and tasks GSA with new interagency coordination responsibilities that help cement its role at the forefront of this essential cybersecurity initiative. Understanding the Quantum Challenge Today’s digital security relies on complex mathematical algorithms that are extremely difficult for current computers to solve. However, quantum computers, which use the principles of quantum physics, will eventually be powerful enough to break these encryption methods quickly. This means that the digital keys protecting everything from federal computer systems to federal building access systems could become vulnerable. Think of it like this: if current encryption is a complex lock that would take thousands of years to pick, quantum computers could potentially pick that same lock in hours or days. This creates an urgent need to develop new types of quantum-resistant encryption “locks” before quantum computers become widely available. GSA’s Comprehensive Response GSA is taking a proactive approach across two critical areas to protect federal identity and access systems: Modernizing the FICAM Architecture The Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (FICAM) architecture serves as the backbone of federal identity systems. GSA is updating this framework to support quantum-resistant algorithms while maintaining compatibility with existing systems. This modernization ensures that agencies can transition smoothly to new security standards without disrupting daily operations. Our
Aug 24, 2026 · via gsa.gov
The Treasury Department today announced the launch of a new public-private initiative “to help accelerate the U.S. financial sector’s transition to quantum-safe technology.” Quantum computers theoretically would be more powerful than most modern computers and therefore pose significant cybersecurity challenges. The Quantum-Readiness Task Force will bring together government, financial institutions, financial market infrastructures, technology providers and other private-sector leaders to support coordinated preparation for quantum-related cyber risks, Treasury said in a statement. “America must lead in securing the technologies that power our economy,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “This task force will help ensure our financial system remains strong, secure and competitive as new technologies reshape the global landscape.” The Task Force will operate through three workstreams: Sector alignment and post-quantum computing transition; third-party and vendor readiness; and digital assets and emerging technology risk. The new effort expands on a “roadmap” for post-quantum cryptography in the financial sector previously published by the G7 Cyber Expert Group, according to the department. Treasury did not announce the task force members. In related news, the American Bankers Association is participating in a post-quantum task force formed by the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee. Earlier this year, the ABA established the Quantum Security Working Group to provide a forum for ABA members to discuss strategies to integrate post-quantum encryption standards.
Aug 24, 2026 · via bankingjournal.aba.com
Treasury launches task force to prepare financial sector for quantum cyber threats The public-private task force will focus on moving financial institutions to quantum-resistant technology and addressing risks created by vendors and digital assets. The Treasury Department announced a new effort Monday to help the financial sector replace widely used cryptographic tools that could eventually be broken by quantum computers. The Quantum-Readiness Task Force will bring together government officials, financial institutions, market infrastructure operators and technology providers to coordinate the shift to post-quantum cryptography. Those protections are designed to withstand attacks from both conventional computers and future, more powerful quantum systems. Financial institutions are widely considered high-value targets for hackers because they hold vast amounts of money and sensitive data and operate payment systems whose disruption can ripple across the economy. A sufficiently advanced quantum computer could break many of the cryptographic tools that protect financial records, payment systems and market transactions. The technology does not yet exist, though cyber adversaries can collect encrypted information today and retain it in hopes of decrypting it once quantum capabilities improve, in a practice commonly dubbed “harvest now, decrypt later.” The Treasury task force will divide its work among coordinating the financial sector’s broader post-quantum transition, assessing the readiness of technology vendors and other third parties and examining risks involving digital assets and emerging technologies. Treasury said the group will also work to identify critical dependencies, improve interoperability and promote “cryptographic agility,” or the ability to replace encryption methods as security standards and threats change. “Post-quantum cryptography readiness is no longer a future-proofing exercise — it is a present-day risk control,” said Deborah Guild, chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and head of technology at PNC Financial Services Group. Guild said organizations will need to prioritize their most important systems while
Aug 24, 2026 · via nextgov.com
In Part 7 we minted post-quantum certificates and weighed them. But certificates sitting in a folder are only half the fun. Time to do the job they were born for: prove identity. We’ll stand up two containers, each holding a certificate, and watch them prove who they are to each other before the tunnel comes up. That’s mutual authentication, over a real IKEv2 handshake. And we’ll do it twice, and the progression is the whole point: - Classical ECDSA (today’s real-world posture), on stable strongSwan. - Post-quantum ML-DSA (the bleeding edge), on an experimental branch. This Part uses the authentication/ lab: its own little stack, separate from the key-exchange one. Only Docker required. Clone the repo Grab the repo and step into this lab’s directory. All commands below run from ipsec/authentication/: git clone https://github.com/juliogomez/pqc.git cd ipsec/pqc/authentication How the trust works Both peers trust one tiny Certificate Authority we spin up just for the lab. The CA signs two leaf certificates (one per peer), and each peer gets the CA cert pre-installed so it can verify the other side. During the handshake each peer sends only its own leaf cert; the CA is already known to both. (That keeps the on-the-wire bytes down, which matters a lot once the certs go post-quantum, as Part 7 showed so clearly.) A helper script, gen-certs.sh, does all the minting; you just tell it which algorithm to use. Exercise A: Classical mutual auth with ECDSA This is today’s real-world posture, and there’s a nice little detail in it. Bring up the two peers: docker compose up -d --build That starts ike-auth-initiator (172.21.0.2) and ike-auth-responder (172.21.0.3). Now mint the CA and both ECDSA leaf certs: docker compose run --rm --build certgen ecdsa The peers started before the certs existed, so reload credentials. Reload the responder via
Aug 24, 2026 · via blogs.cisco.com