Atom Computing Finalizes $100 Million U.S. Department of Commerce R&D Award to Accelerate Fault-Tolerant, Utility-Scale Quantum Computing

Funding will advance the commercialization of logical-qubit quantum computers and strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum technology.

November 13, 2026 – Boulder, CO – Atom Computing, a leader in scalable neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced it has signed an agreement for up to $100 million with the U.S. Department of Commerce to accelerate research and development of fault-tolerant, utility-scale quantum computers. The award follows a Letter of Intent announced earlier this year and represents a significant investment in advancing next-generation computing technologies critical to U.S. economic competitiveness, scientific leadership, and national security.

Atom Computing's neutral-atom architecture is increasingly recognized as one of the most viable approaches for building large-scale, commercially useful quantum computers. Today’s announcement closely follows the company’s recent selection as the only neutral atom company to advance to Stage C of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (DARPA QBI) with potential funding up to $300 million.

Atom has consistently demonstrated technical leadership through several industry milestones, including being the first to build a platform with more than 1,000 qubits, the first neutral-atom company to demonstrate sub-threshold behavior on a system with full, end-to-end quantum error correction over many rounds, and the first to commercially offer a logical-qubit quantum computer. In 2025 Atom Computing sold its first commercial on-premises quantum computer to QuNorth, a Nordic quantum initiative funded by EIFO and Novo Nordisk Foundation.

"Quantum computing is reaching a critical inflection point where scientific breakthroughs must rapidly translate into commercial reality," said Dr. Ben Bloom, CEO and Founder of Atom Computing. "This $100 million contract enables us to aggressively scale the engineering required to bring fault-tolerant quantum computing to market and ensure the United States leads the transition into the utility-scale era." 

The Department of Commerce contract will accelerate several of Atom Computing’s strategic R&D initiatives which will shorten the timeline to economically viable quantum computing, including:

Industry and government interest in practical quantum computing continues to accelerate, with advances in error correction, system scale, and hardware performance driving increased confidence in the technology's commercial potential. Atom Computing has demonstrated leadership in logical-qubit systems and fault-tolerant architectures, translating scientific breakthroughs into deployable commercial systems for real-world applications.

About Atom Computing

Atom Computing is developing large-scale quantum computers to enable companies and researchers to achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs. Utilizing highly scalable arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms, the company has developed systems with over 1,000 qubits, featuring advanced capabilities towards fault-tolerant quantum computing. Atom Computing’s on-premises systems provide customers with new computational tools and logical qubit capabilities to address increasingly complex applications and to grow their quantum ecosystem. Learn more at atom-computing.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Atom Computing Media Contact
Kelly Shrosbree
FINN Partners
kelly.shrosbree@finnpartners.com

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Atom Computing Selected by DARPA for Final Stage of Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

Stage C selection of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative awards up to $300 million.

October 7, 2026 – Boulder, CO – Atom Computing today announced it has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance to the final stage of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), a landmark program assessing the feasibility of building utility-scale quantum computers on an accelerated timeline. This stage, with potential funding of up to $300 million, reinforces the momentum behind Atom Computing’s vision and roadmap for building a utility-scale quantum computer using neutral-atom quantum technology.

DARPA launched the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative to evaluate whether practical, industrial quantum computers can be realized sooner than conventional industry projections. Atom Computing was selected for Stage A of the program in early 2025 and subsequently advanced to Stage B in late 2025, where the company developed and presented a comprehensive plan for realizing a utility-scale quantum computer. This work included detailed technology development milestones, risk assessments, mitigation strategies, and prototype systems designed to demonstrate critical capabilities.

With Atom’s selection for Stage C, an independent government verification and validation team will determine if the company’s utility-scale quantum computer concept can be constructed as designed and operated as intended. As part of the program, Microsoft has agreed to also provide algorithmic support and error correction codes to Atom Computing.

“We are excited to be chosen for the final stage of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative,” said Dr. Ben Bloom, CEO and Founder of Atom Computing. “We believe utility-scale quantum computing is closer than many expect, and this milestone reinforces our confidence in the scalability and performance of neutral-atom architectures. We continue to focus on delivering fault-tolerant quantum systems capable of unlocking transformative advances across science, industry, and national security.”

Atom Computing has emerged as a recognized leader in the development of large-scale quantum computing systems. The company has achieved several industry-first milestones, including the demonstration of quantum systems exceeding 1,000 physical qubits, the first neutral-atom platform to achieve sub-threshold performance with full end-to-end quantum error correction across many rounds, and the industry’s first commercial sale of a logical-qubit quantum computer in 2025 to QuNorth, a Nordic quantum initiative funded by EIFO and Novo Nordisk Foundation. Most recently, the company signed a Letter of Intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $100 million, further underscoring growing public-sector interest in advanced quantum capabilities.

Dr. Jonathan King, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder of Atom Computing, said: “The momentum across the quantum computing sector continues to accelerate as breakthroughs in error correction, system scalability, and hardware reliability strengthen confidence in the technology’s near-term commercial potential. Atom Computing’s neutral-atom architecture, combined with its demonstrated progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computing, positions the company at the forefront of delivering practical quantum systems capable of addressing some of the world’s most complex computational challenges.”

As governments and enterprises increasingly invest in next-generation computing infrastructure, Atom Computing remains focused on turning scientific innovation into operational capability and establishing the foundation for the utility-scale quantum era.

About Atom Computing

Atom Computing is developing large-scale quantum computers to enable companies and researchers to achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs. Utilizing highly scalable arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms, the company has developed systems with over 1,200 qubits, featuring advanced capabilities toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. Atom Computing’s on-premises systems provide customers with new computational tools and logical qubit capabilities to address increasingly complex applications and to grow their quantum ecosystem. Learn more at atom-computing.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Atom Computing Media Contact
Will Hennessey
FINN Partners
will.hennessey@finnpartners.com

Closing the Speed Gap

By Dr. Ben Bloom, Atom Computing's CEO and Founder

A few weeks ago, I spoke at Quantum World Congress (QWC) at the University of Maryland to provide media, analysts, customers, and industry peers with an update on Atom’s technical progress and roadmap. As part of that keynote, I discussed the three big challenges that quantum companies across the industry are facing to build viable, utility-scale systems: scale, speed, and fault-tolerance. Solving these three challenges unlocks a path to computing power that enables transformative calculations in drug discovery, molecular simulation, and cryptography that are impossible for classical supercomputers to solve today.

Dr. Ben Bloom speaking at Quantum World Congress 2026 in College Park, Maryland.

Followers of Atom Computing (and the neutral-atom modality in general) know that we demonstrated our technology’s ability for aggressive scaling with our 100-qubit prototype system and our 1,200+ qubit AC1000 systems. At QWC I shared our product roadmap, which shows that we are continuing to target a 10x increase in physical qubits per generation, and that Atom is on track to deliver the world’s first fault-tolerant quantum supercomputer by 2029 with over 1,000 logical qubits.

Fault tolerance is also essential for quantum supercomputers to achieve utility scale and power a generational technology shift. Having published demonstrated milestones and progress on logical qubits since 2024, Atom is the first neutral atom company to demonstrate and publish full, end-to-end, quantum error correction for many continuous rounds, making it one of only two companies in the quantum industry to achieve this feat.

Speed matters

What remains is the third big quantum challenge, which is speed. In our industry, the neutral-atom modality has the reputation of being “slow” compared to, for instance, superconducting technologies because gate speeds are typically measured in microseconds instead of nanoseconds. It’s understandable why industry experts focus on that. But users care more about the overall time-to-solution and whether quantum computers could reliably compute problems in a reasonable amount of time. We believe that focusing on individual system performance specs as an indicator for overall system performance does not show the full picture. For fault-tolerant systems to operate at utility scale, we must consider all factors that contribute to system computation time, such as qubit connectivity, logical qubit overhead, and execution speed.

In my keynote address at QWC, I revealed that we have solved the speed gap compared to other modalities by addressing bottlenecks and delivering time-to-solution for neutral atom systems on par with superconducting qubit-based quantum computers.

We are addressing speed on multiple fronts, starting with gate speeds. Typical neutral atom gates require microseconds to manipulate the qubit’s quantum state. We are implementing new gate technologies that manipulate the qubit’s quantum state more efficiently than before and reduce that time to nanoseconds. The added benefit is that a faster gate speed also allows the gate to "outrun" low-frequency noise and perform better.

We’re also focused on readout speed. Atom’s qubits are read out through laser light illumination to capture the emitted photons. Through new optical technology, we can significantly enhance the rate at which photons are captured on cameras, reducing readout times by orders of magnitude.

Another key factor is the control systems, which are developed in-house to optimize the orchestration of quantum error correction protocols on our computers. We are also exploring NVIDIA’s NVQLink along with GPUs and other hardware improvements to reduce latencies and increase overall operating speed.

The last focus area for us is arbitrary movement. We have developed optical display technology to simultaneously move many qubits to arbitrary locations. This parallelization enables all-to-all qubit connectivity, many simultaneously executed independent two-qubit gates, and efficient complex logical qubit manipulations. This provides massive acceleration of overall algorithm execution, similar to the way that GPUs act as accelerators over CPUs. It also creates a flexible platform for continuously improving quantum error correction algorithms, meaning that a single platform does not need to be locked into a single type of logical qubit performance.

The quantum market has officially reached a turning point where neutral atoms have surged to the front of the fault-tolerant race. By closing the speed gap, Atom Computing is in an excellent position to be the first company to build utility-scale quantum computers that deliver real value for its users.

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Atom Computing Appoints Kevin Messerle as Chief Financial Officer

August 31, 2026 – Boulder, CO – Atom Computing, a leader in the race to build practical quantum computers, today announced the appointment of Kevin Messerle as Chief Financial Officer. Messerle joins Atom Computing at a pivotal moment as the company continues to advance its technology roadmap and scale operations to meet growing demand for commercially relevant quantum computing solutions.

Messerle brings over 20 years of financial leadership experience across world-class investment firms such as Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Summit Partners, as well as high-growth and publicly traded companies. Most recently, he served as Chief Financial Officer of York Space Systems, Inc., where he helped strengthen the company's financial operations during a period of rapid expansion. In his tenure, he played a key role in preparing the company for its public market debut on the New York Stock Exchange and supported the successful acquisition and integration of six companies.

"Kevin is a proven financial leader with a strong track record of building scalable organizations, driving operational excellence, and creating long-term value," said Dr. Ben Bloom, CEO and Founder of Atom Computing. "As Atom enters its next phase of growth, Kevin's experience will be instrumental in strengthening our financial foundation, supporting strategic investments, and helping us capitalize on the tremendous opportunities emerging across the quantum computing industry."

"I am honored to join Atom Computing at such an exciting time in its journey," said Messerle. "The company has established itself as a technology leader in quantum computing through its world-class team, innovative approach, and bold vision for the future. I look forward to partnering with the leadership team as we continue to scale the business and bring transformative quantum capabilities closer to commercial reality."

Interest in quantum computing continues to accelerate across industries, including materials science, pharmaceuticals, energy, financial services, and logistics. Organizations and governments around the world are increasingly investing in quantum computing technologies that have the potential to solve complex problems beyond the reach of classical computing. Atom Computing's approach, based on large-scale arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms, is widely regarded as one of the most promising architectures for achieving fault-tolerant, utility-scale, and commercially useful quantum computing.

About Atom Computing

Atom Computing is developing large-scale quantum computers to enable companies and researchers to achieve unprecedented computational breakthroughs. Utilizing highly scalable arrays of optically trapped neutral atoms, the company has developed systems with over 1,200 qubits, featuring advanced capabilities towards fault-tolerant quantum computing. Atom Computing’s on-premises systems provide customers with new computational tools and logical qubit capabilities to address increasingly complex applications and to grow their quantum ecosystem. In 2025 Atom Computing sold its first commercial on-premises quantum computer to QuNorth, a Nordic quantum initiative funded by EIFO and Novo Nordisk Foundation. In 2026 the U.S. Department of Commerce signed a Letter of Intent with Atom Computing for $100 million to accelerate the path to fault-tolerant, utility-scale quantum computing. Learn more at atom-computing.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Atom Computing Media Contact
Will Hennessey
FINN Partners
will.hennessey@finnpartners.com

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