Colorado-based startup Atom Computing has created a 1225-site atomic array — which the company said is currently populated with 1180 qubits — in its quantum computing platform. According to Atom Computing, the 1225-site atomic array marks the the first time a company has crossed the 1000-qubit threshold. The company added that the upscaling represents an order-of-magnitude leap, from 100 to 1000-plus qubits in a single generation of a device, which is necessary to support fault-tolerant quantum computing. The company is actively preparing its second-generation system for commercial introduction as quantum computing as a service in 2024. Atom Computing uses atomic arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms, harnessing the nuclear spin of neutral atoms to construct qubits that are cooled, trapped, and controlled using lasers. This approach, according to the company, enables massive scalability, high fidelity, reduced complexity, and long coherence. Atom Computing has developed a 1180-qubit quantum computing platform that it plans to introduce to the commercial market as quantum computing as a service in 2024. Courtesy of Atom Computing. Earlier this year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected Atom Computing to explore how atomic arrays of neutral atoms could accelerate the path to fault-tolerant quantum computing. The company received a project award and funding to develop a next-generation system as part of DARPA’s Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program. Atom Computing also collaborated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory this year to explore how quantum computing can help optimize electric grid operations.