Atom Computing advances in $300M DARPA quantum competition

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — Atom Computing Inc., a California-headquartered quantum firm that hosts the lion’s share of its workforce and research and development efforts in Boulder, said this week that is has advanced to the final stage of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.

At the end of the three-stage competition — “the ultimate objective: a useful quantum computer by 2033,” according to DARPA — qualified companies could receive as much as $300 million in federal funding.

Atom did not specify whether it has received DARPA funding as part of its acceptance into the final QBI stage.

“DARPA launched the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative to evaluate whether practical, industrial quantum computers can be realized sooner than conventional industry projections. Atom Computing was selected for Stage A of the program in early 2025 and subsequently advanced to Stage B in late 2025, where the company developed and presented a comprehensive plan for realizing a utility-scale quantum computer,” Atom said in a news release. “This work included detailed technology development milestones, risk assessments, mitigation strategies, and prototype systems designed to demonstrate critical capabilities.”

Now in Stage C, “an independent government verification and validation team will determine if the company’s utility-scale quantum computer concept can be constructed as designed and operated as intended,” the release said. “As part of the program, Microsoft has agreed to also provide algorithmic support and error correction codes to Atom Computing.”

Founded in 2018 in Berkeley, California, where its global headquarters remains, Atom Computing opened its Boulder research and development operations in 2022.

About a year later, Atom’s Boulder team made history when it built the first commercial quantum computer to exceed 1,000 qubits.

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