DARPA selects Oxford Ionics for Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

• The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected Oxford Ionics for both its technology capabilities to date and roadmap towards utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers

• Oxford Ionics progresses to Stage A of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), outlining its clear path to large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers by 2033

OXFORD, UK and BOULDER, CO, 3rd April, 2025: Oxford Ionics, a world leader in trapped-ion quantum computing, today announced it has been selected by the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). 

With a long history of backing transformational advances, DARPA is the United States’ primary research and development agency focused on identifying cutting-edge technologies with the potential for national security applications. Through its QBI program, the agency has solicited innovative approaches to constructing utility-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers, with the aim of determining the possibility of building industrially useful quantum computers faster than conventional predictions. Specifically, QBI is designed to verify and validate the quantum computing approaches that can achieve utility-scale operation by the year 2033. 

Oxford Ionics has been selected by DARPA to advance to the first round of its QBI program after showing DARPA its existing technology capabilities and its clear roadmap towards fault-tolerant quantum computers. Its proposed approach rests on three crucial pillars: unmatched operation fidelities, unparalleled scalability, and built using technologies that exist today.

At the core of Oxford Ionics’ quantum computers is its patented Electronic Qubit Control technology, which uses electronics instead of lasers to control its atomic qubits. Electronic Qubit Control eliminates errors associated with laser-driven gates and pushes control tolerancing onto classical electrostatics of micron scale metal structures. Through leveraging this approach Oxford Ionics has demonstrated the highest performing quantum computing platform in the world – it has set the world record in all three key fidelity metrics, including single-qubit gate fidelity, two-qubit gate fidelity, and quantum state preparation and measurement (SPAM). These unmatched gate fidelities combined with long-range connectivity means that Oxford Ionics’ approach also significantly reduces Quantum Error Correction (QEC) overheads, in addition to reducing scaling costs and integration risks. 

Oxford Ionics further unlocks unprecedented scalability, as everything needed to control the qubits can be integrated into a classical chip produced via standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. Its Quantum Processor Unit (QPU) chips control the ion qubits using classical currents and voltages, with signal multiplexing greatly reducing the number of IO lines. A repeated unit cell design allows continuous scaling to hundreds of thousands of qubits, all while leveraging the might of the existing semiconductor supply chain. These QPUs are then integrated with commercially available infrastructure and control hardware, made possible by WISE and Global Parallel control architecture. 

Oxford Ionics has rapidly proven and commercialised this technology. In 2024, it closed $20m in sales, and works with a range of partners - from quantum software and error correction providers to large enterprises like Airbus - to conduct critical applications research using its hardware. Oxford Ionics’ global team includes over 80 employees across physics, quantum architecture, engineering, software and business and expects to triple headcount over the next 18 months as the business scales internationally. As part of this expansion, the company opened its first US office in Boulder, Colorado in 2024.

Oxford Ionics co-founder and CEO, Dr Chris Ballance, commented: “We are thrilled to have been selected by DARPA to advance to Stage A of QBI, which serves as clear validation of the power of our approach. Since our inception, Oxford Ionics has pioneered a revolutionary process to building market-making quantum computers by combining the highest performing quantum platform in the world with the might of the existing semiconductor supply chain. We look forward to working with DARPA to demonstrate how this technology will usher in the next era of compute power.” 

About Oxford Ionics

Oxford Ionics was co-founded in 2019 by Dr Tom Harty and Dr Chris Ballance who both hold world records in quantum breakthroughs. The team includes 60 global experts across physics, quantum architecture, engineering and software and expects to triple headcount over the next 18 months as the business scales internationally. Oxford Ionics has raised £37 million to date with investors including Braavos, OSE, Lansdowne Partners, Prosus Ventures, 2xN, and Hermann Hauser (founder of chip giant ARM). In 2024, Oxford Ionics rapidly commercialised its technology, selling full-stack quantum computers to the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and Germany’s Cyberagentur. The company also holds the world records in the three most important metrics for quantum performance: single- and two-qubit gate fidelity and quantum state preparation and measurement (SPAM). For more information, visit our website www.oxionics.com