IBM Advances to Stage C in DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

Image: IBM · Source

IBM progresses to the third phase of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, moving closer to delivering a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2033.

IBM has announced its selection to advance into Stage C of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), marking a significant step in DARPA's rigorous evaluation process of fault-tolerant quantum computing technologies. The QBI aims to verify if a practically useful, cost-effective fault-tolerant quantum computer can be created by 2033.

Since the launch of the QBI in 2024, IBM has successfully passed through the initial stages of the program, which included submitting a plausible technical concept and a comprehensive research and development plan outlining risks and mitigation strategies. Stage C represents the transition from conceptual design to practical evaluation, where DARPA’s independent verification and validation team extensively tests IBM's quantum hardware and system engineering.

IBM’s quantum computing foundation is anchored by the industry's largest fleet of quantum machines worldwide and Qiskit, the leading quantum software platform. Currently, over 340 organizations spanning sectors such as financial services, healthcare, material science, academia, and government use IBM's quantum systems for practical scientific research and development.

In 2025, IBM unveiled plans for IBM Quantum Starling, poised to be the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum computer. Starling is expected to integrate advances in error correction, processor architecture, and systems engineering, with IBM already demonstrating key hardware components and improvements in efficient error-correction decoding.

Beyond the QBI, IBM continues collaborative efforts with industry, government, and academic partners to push closer to the goal of fault-tolerant quantum computing. The company’s progress underlines its leading role in the quantum computing field, which is expected to revolutionize computational capabilities in the coming decade.

Further details about the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative are available on DARPA’s website.