IonQ Unveils 2025 Roadmap With New Technical Milestones

Insider Brief

• IonQ executives revealed a roadmap that they say features expanded and accelerated 2025 technical milestones.
• IonQ lists one goal is to improve native two-qubit gate performance to greater than three 9’s (>99.9%) in 2025.
• The company will also focus on connecting multiple QPUs and quantum systems with photonic interconnects will enable IonQ to target 1000s of physical qubits in the future.

PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in the quantum computing industry, recently unveiled expanded and accelerated 2025 technical milestones during an exclusive webinar hosted by CEO Peter Chapman, SVP of Engineering & Technology Dean Kassmann, and CMO Margaret Arakawa. IonQ established why it is the only quantum computing company designing and building best-in-class quantum computers that meet the requirements of performance, scalability, and enterprise-grade solutions that are critical for delivering unparalleled commercial advantage to customers.  

“It is imperative that we address performance, scale, and enterprise-grade quantum solutions simultaneously to achieve commercial advantage,” said Peter Chapman, President and CEO of IonQ. “Working to operationalize all three commercial advantage pillars is an industry-first that sets us apart. While other companies may hyperfocus on a single dimension, we focus on the complete picture, to ensure our quantum computing solutions are best-in-class and provide incomparable value to our customers.”  

“Based on market demand, we’ve embarked on a path that no other commercial quantum computing company is taking, and we are committed to accelerating our quantum computing strategy as demonstrated by these ambitious goals,” said Dean Kassmann, SVP of Engineering & Technology at IonQ. “Our unique approach combines high performance single core operation, multi-core parallelism, modularity, photonic interconnects, novel technology, and systems engineering to deliver highly performant, scalable, and enterprise-grade quantum computers that drive meaningful advancements across various industries.”

Performance: Driving Efficiency and Unparalleled Flexibility 

Performance improvements are core to IonQ’s technical roadmap, and the path toward meeting IonQ’s aggressive performance targets is clear. Native gate fidelity, architectural design decisions, and error correction will serve as levers to achieve these goals. IonQ is driving to improve native two-qubit gate performance to greater than three 9’s (>99.9%) in 2025, with further gains – fueled by the move to barium qubits – expected the following year. Performance improvements are also expected from highly efficient realizations of quantum algorithms that are enabled by IonQ’s low-shuttling, high-connectivity architectures.  Lastly, the combination of high native gate fidelity and high connectivity provides unparalleled flexibility for implementing error correction and reducing time to solution. With this updated quantum architecture, IonQ expects to reach five 9’s (99.999%) in logical two-qubit gate fidelity by the end of 2025, opening up new application performance capabilities.

Scale: Architecture that Enables Expansive Growth

IonQ is pursuing scale in tandem with performance. IonQ’s north star is scalability at high performance, and modularity is a critical component of this strategy. IonQ’s approach to scale relies on making engineering and architectural decisions that support performance at large qubit counts. In addition, IonQ’s strategy for scaling takes advantage of multicore operation and photonically interconnected systems. Connecting multiple QPUs and quantum systems with photonic interconnects will enable IonQ to target 1000s of physical qubits in the future. These higher qubit counts will unlock new problem spaces and enable developers and researchers to tackle increasingly complex problems.

Enterprise-Grade: Meeting Real-World Needs

IonQ’s enterprise-grade approach readies its quantum systems for deployment across various sectors, focusing on manufacturability, deployability, and customer applications at scale. IonQ has already formed successful partnerships with organizations like the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Airbus, and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) – an internationally renowned center of fundamental research – as they focus on optimization problems and quantum chemistry and other important real-world applications. Additionally, IonQ is exploring a growing number of quantum algorithms across fields such as AI, financial services, and cybersecurity, reinforcing its commitment to real-world quantum technology applications. 

Currently, IonQ operates two quantum data centers—one at its headquarters in College Park, Maryland, and another in Seattle, Washington, which the company opened earlier this year. Later this year, IonQ will expand its footprint by bringing its quantum data center in Basel, Switzerland, online. All of these locations are dedicated to supporting the needs of IonQ’s customers.

This momentum underscores IonQ’s leadership in the quantum computing industry and robust industry demand. IonQ’s enterprise strategy and expanding infrastructure highlight its dedication to unlocking commercial advantage by collaborating with industry leaders and making cutting-edge, well-balanced, quantum technology available ahead of schedule.