Quantinuum, Honeywell Quantum Computer Sets Performance Record

Quantinuum has set an industry quantum volume record of 8192 on its trapped-ion quantum computing platform, the System Model H1, developed in partnership with Honeywell.  

Quantum volume is a benchmark introduced by IBM in 2019. It measures the performance of a quantum computer using randomized circuits and is a frequently used metric across the industry. 

This new increase is the seventh time in two years that Quantinuum’s H-Series hardware has set an industry record for measured quantum volume, meeting its goal of increasing it by a factor of 10 annually.

According to Quantinuum, the key to achieving this latest record is a new way of implementing two-qubit gates, which allows for more efficient circuit construction and fewer errors. 

“This new capability allows for several user advantages. In many cases, this includes shorter interactions with the qubits, which lowers the error rate. This allows our customers to run long computations with less noise,” explained Quantinuum director of commercial operations Brian Neyenhuis.

Quantinuum also announced its TKET software development kit for writing and running programs on gate-based quantum computers has achieved 500,000 downloads. TKET enables developers to optimize their quantum algorithms, reducing the computational resources required. This is important when using current quantum computers, which are known as noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) machines.

Quantinuum CEO Ilyas Khan said, “Whilst we do not have the exact number of users of TKET, it is clear that we are growing towards a million people around the world who have taken advantage of a critical tool that integrates across multiple platforms and makes those platforms perform better. We continue to be thrilled by the way that TKET helps democratize as well as accelerate innovation in quantum computing.”

Quantinuum President and COO Tony Uttley announced the achievements during his “A Measured Approach to Quantum Computing” keynote address at the IEEE Quantum Week event in Colorado last week.

“Quantinuum is accelerating quantum computing’s impact on the world,” Uttley said. “We are making significant progress with both our hardware and software, in addition to building a community of developers who are using our TKET SDK.”