Recently, we’ve seen a flurry of quantum strategies and roadmaps from the world’s governments and quantum hardware companies. If you look at those proposals in detail, there’s one common thread: quantum error correction (QEC).

This is a savvy move. At the end of 2023, the wider quantum community agreed that we cannot unlock quantum computing’s predicted $850bn in value unless we can achieve a large number of error-free Quantum Operations, or QuOps, for short.

The exact number of QuOps required to unlock commercially and socially relevant applications is expected to be around a trillion (aka a TeraQuOp) – and the UK Government is aiming for this figure by 2035 with Mission 1 of its quantum strategy.

In the interim, there’s a short-term goal of one million QuOps (MegaQuOp) by 2028.​ To put this in perspective, today’s machines are capable of a few hundred QuOps.​