The 2025 Quantum Computing Scalability Conference brought together key stakeholders in the field, reflecting significant advancements and ongoing challenges in quantum computing scalability. The prevailing mantra throughout the conference resonated with a singular focus: scale, scale, scale.
Growth and Future Aspirations
Quantum computing has witnessed remarkable development over the last decade, yet experts agree that there's a substantial journey ahead. Notably, IBM has set ambitious targets, aiming to reach 100 million gates by 2029 and soaring to one billion gates by 2033. Such goals underline the industry's daunting scalability challenge while also improving error metrics of a qubit.
In an insightful metaphor, Robin Sterling likened the growth from a single coffee bean today to achieving the vast coffee supply that powers all coffee shops in the UK—an analogy that vividly illustrates the scale of ambition required in quantum advancements.
Expanding the Community
Attendance at this year’s conference doubled compared to its previous instalment two years ago, underscoring the community's growth and increased interest in quantum technologies. Highlights included small-scale error correction achievements across multiple qubit platforms, with Earl Campbell offering a concise summary of recent pivotal results.
Notable Presentations
Breaking Down Innovations
Several prominent talks sparked discussions on innovative methodologies:
Interdisciplinary Insights
Andreas Wallraff also highlighted that technology developed for networking purposes, such as fast readout techniques for superconducting qubits, was initially devised for non-local Bell tests, illustrating the interdisciplinary reach of quantum technologies.
Engineering to Scale
Participants like Jay noted that many hardware platforms are hitting technological milestones in shrinking their technologies as part of the solution to scaling, revealing that fabrication and engineering challenges arguably pose greater barriers than fundamental physics obstacles. The conference showcased numerous engineering feats, yet attendees were reminded that a single academic idea does not constitute a full platform and widespread collaboration is vital.
Spirit of Collaboration
The atmosphere at the conference was notably companionable. It emphasised a collective understanding of shared challenges rather than fierce competition. Attendees recognised the importance of a collective strategy to expand the community's technological "pie" rather than engage in the “zero-sum” mentality of competition.
A notable perspective from an Oxford Instruments session encapsulated this sentiment, advocating for equipment that supports the transition from academic proofs of concept to larger-scale industrial applications. Their showcased cryogenic innovations emphasised upgradability and modularity.
Conclusion
The NQCC Scalability Conference provided an opportunity to learn the many ways that quantum computing has grown over the last two years, from theoretical insights to small-scale demonstrations of key components required for a distributed fault-tolerant quantum computer. While there is still a ways to go, the work presented here shows the progress made, and emphasised how it will take a village, or at least an Oxford college, to build a quantum computer.
Attendees from Nu Quantum: Alex Moylett, Bhargavi Jonnadula, Jay Man, Coral Westoby, Claire Le Gall.
