Trapped ion

IonQ

IonQ builds trapped-ion quantum computers and sells both cloud access, including through Amazon Braket, and systems installed at customer sites. Its earlier machines steer the ions with lasers. Since agreeing to buy Oxford Ionics in 2025 it has been moving to control the ions with electronics built into the chip, which it argues can be mass-manufactured. Its newest line, Superion, starts at 256 qubits with deliveries planned for 2027. IonQ has also bought companies in quantum networking, sensing, secure communications and chip manufacturing.

publicly listed company (NYSE since October 2021) · Based in United States · Since 2015 · Facts checked 27 October 2026

Where it ranks this month

Best place in each race, from QubitBenchmark release 2026-11.1.

All rankings →

Most accurate–No ranked result Error-corrected qubits–No ranked result Most qubits#4Tempo, 100 qubits Fastest–No ranked result Use it today–No ranked result

Machines

Machine	Physical qubits	Introduced	How to use it
IonQ Tempo	100	2025	deployed to customers; cloud availability unclear
IonQ Forte Enterprise	36	–	Amazon Braket; IonQ Quantum Cloud
IonQ Superion 256	256	2026	orders open; customer deliveries expected in 2027 (not yet available)

Qubit counts as the company reports them. Our rankings use QubitBenchmark's checked results instead.

Promised vs delivered

What IonQ has said it would build, and what happened.

All roadmaps →

Milestone	Target	Status	Why we say so
Modular quantum computers small enough to be networked in a data centre	2023	Unclear	No source opened confirms or refutes delivery of networked modular systems by 2023. Source
Broad quantum advantage	2025	Slipped	In 2025 IonQ still described broad quantum advantage as a goal it was working toward; no claim of having achieved it was found. Source
#AQ 29 (algorithmic qubits)	2023	Delivered	IonQ reported reaching #AQ 29 seven months early in 2023 and opened Forte at that level to direct-access customers (company-reported metric). Source
#AQ 64 system	end of 2025	Delivered	IonQ reported #AQ 64 on a Tempo development system in September 2025 (IonQ's own benchmark; not independently verified). Source
256 physical qubits at 99.99% two-qubit fidelity	2026	Slipped	Superion 256 was launched for order in September 2026 with customer deliveries in 2027, and IonQ's Q2 2026 results put 256-qubit commissioning in fiscal 2027. Source
Over 10,000 physical qubits, 800 logical qubits	2027	Unclear	IonQ says Superion 10K is 'well underway' but its September 2026 release gives no delivery year; the roadmap page still shows 2027. Source
Full fault tolerance in a lab setting	2027 (manufacturable commercial systems in 2028)	Unclear	Stated as an expectation in the Superion launch release; no progress report against it yet. Source
2 million physical qubits, 80,000 logical qubits	2030	Unclear	Still shown on IonQ's roadmap page; no recent statement that it is on schedule. Source

Recent claims, and how far the evidence has got

Announced Two-qubit gate fidelity above 99.99% using electronic qubit control Source
Announced #AQ 64 reached on Tempo, three months ahead of schedule Source
Preprint Breakeven quantum error correction with qLDPC codes on a Tempo engineering test system Source

In other organisations' rankings

Where IonQ appears in other published rankings and lists. They don't change ours.

All of them →

Four more teams enter Quantum Benchmarking Initiative final stage (QBI Stage C), DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) (2026-10-07). An authoritative government selection, but it assesses plans and their feasibility, not measured performance, and the October 2026 announcement says nothing about the other seven Stage B companies.
The Quantum Index Report 2026, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (MIT Sloan), in collaboration with Accenture (2026-10). Transparent, sourced and openly licensed data, but it measures activity (patents, funding, press releases) rather than how well the machines perform.
Metriq: A Collaborative Platform for Benchmarking Quantum Computers (Metriq Score scoreboard), Unitary Foundation (2026-03-09). Open, reproducible method run by a non-profit, but it covers only about a dozen cloud machines, a missing benchmark scores zero, the composite depends on the chosen baseline, and IBM both funds the work and tops the table.
Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Quantum Computer Processors: Architectures, Performance, and Perspectives, IEEE Access (authors: M. Vukšić, J. Ćelić, A. Cuculić, University of Rijeka) (2026-03-05). Peer-reviewed, but the paper itself says Table 1 is 'a high-level comparative snapshot rather than a definitive ranking'. Its data is already dated, and some milestone dates should be checked against primary sources.
CB Insights ESP matrices: Quantum computer makers (neutral atoms, photonics, silicon qubit, superconducting circuits, trapped ions), CB Insights (2026). Based on market and business signals, not machine performance. Vendors can brief CB Insights, and most placements are hidden behind a subscription.
Quantum Benchmarking Initiative: Stage B Selection, DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) (2025-11-06). An official list of who advanced, not a ranking; it partly rests on plans and roadmaps, and Stage C has since narrowed it (see darpa-qbi-stage-c-2026).
Evaluating the performance of quantum processing units at large width and depth, Jülich Supercomputing Centre (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and Purdue University; arXiv preprint (2025-05-28). Careful, independent academic study using one workload; it is a 2025 snapshot that predates newer machines, and the access budgets differed by vendor.

Compare

IonQ vs Quantinuum

Sources

IonQ roadmap, IonQ
IonQ company page, IonQ
IonQ Announces Agreement to Acquire Oxford Ionics, IonQ, 9 June 2025
IonQ Launches Superion Product Line, IonQ, 8 September 2026
IonQ Hits #AQ 64 Milestone Ahead of Schedule - And Sets Its Sights Even Higher, IonQ blog, 13 October 2025
IonQ Reaches #AQ 64 Milestone on 100-Qubit Tempo System Ahead of Schedule, Quantum Computing Report, 27 September 2025
IonQ Achieves 99.99% Two-Qubit Gate Performance, The Quantum Insider, 21 October 2025
IonQ Q2 FY 2026: Tempo Quantum Computers Drive Growth Ahead of SkyWater Integration, Futurum Group, 7 August 2026
Scaling IonQ's Quantum Computers: The Roadmap, IonQ blog, 9 December 2020
IonQ Beats Projected Revenue, Sees 64-Qubit System in 2025, The Quantum Insider, 11 August 2023
IonQ Forte Enterprise available on Amazon's Braket quantum computing service, SDxCentral, 21 March 2025
IonQ, Wikipedia