Quantinuum Unveils Helios Quantum Computer with Enhanced Capabilities

Quantinuum has launched Helios, a new general-purpose quantum computer aimed at enterprise adoption, featuring 98 all-to-all connected physical qubits. This new system boasts a single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.9975% and a two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.921%, making it a significant advancement over its predecessor, H2, which was equipped with 56 ytterbium qubits. The Helios system incorporates advanced features such as 94 logical qubits that are globally entangled with better-than-physical performance, and it utilizes barium ions, which are easier to control than previous materials. According to the Quantum Computing Report, Helios includes a first-of-its-kind commercial ion junction, enabling efficient qubit routing and scaling, alongside an architecture that enhances performance through improved operational zones and faster sorting, cooling, and gating operations.

Rajibul Islam, a physicist at the University of Waterloo, noted that Helios's qubit error rates are low, allowing for reduced hardware allocation to error correction. This system demonstrates a new capability for real-time error correction, utilizing NVIDIA GPUs to identify errors in parallel, which may lead to more effective error correction than traditional methods. Quantinuum has reported that Helios was successfully used to simulate the behavior of electrons in high-temperature superconductors, marking a considerable leap in quantum computing applications in materials science and computational biology.

The system is now available through Quantinuum's cloud service and on-premise offerings, and it has already attracted early collaborators such as Amgen, BMW Group, and JPMorganChase, who aim to leverage its capabilities for financial modeling and materials science tasks. Additionally, Quantinuum plans to expand its operations and partnerships, launching two new programs aimed at enhancing customer engagement and supporting startups.

Quantinuum's strategic partnership with Singapore’s National Quantum Office includes plans to install the Helios system in Singapore by 2026, alongside establishing a local R&D and operations center. This global partnership is part of a broader strategy to accelerate quantum computing's enterprise adoption and development. The company is also working on its next-generation quantum computer, codenamed Sol, which is expected to have 192 qubits and be released in 2027. Following that, a fifth-generation system, Apollo, is anticipated in 2029, targeting thousands of qubits and full fault tolerance.

Overall, with Helios, Quantinuum asserts that it has produced the most powerful quantum computer currently available, although competition is expected to intensify as other hardware providers gear up for their own advancements in the coming year.