DARPA moves IBM, IonQ, Atom Computing and Diraq into the final stage of its quantum test
Six teams are now in the last stage of the US government's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which checks whether a company's plan for a useful quantum computer could really work.
DARPA, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has moved Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ into Stage C, the final stage of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. They join Microsoft and PsiQuantum, which reached the equivalent stage through an earlier DARPA pilot, making six teams in all.
The initiative asks a hard question: could each company's plan produce a useful, error-corrected quantum computer by 2033? In Stage C, a government evaluation team checks whether the proposed design works as intended. DARPA has said more teams may advance later.
Why it matters: this is one of the few outside checks on companies' roadmaps. It isn't a ranking, and it doesn't measure today's machines, but reaching the final stage is a meaningful vote of confidence in a company's engineering plan.
Does this change the rankings? No. DARPA assesses whether plans are feasible, not measured performance, so its decision doesn't change our rankings. It appears under How others rank them.
Sources
- Four more teams enter Quantum Benchmarking Initiative final stage, DARPA, 7 October 2026