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- The Quantum State – August 2026
The Quantum State – August 2026
A monthly newsletter by BTQ Technologies
Anastasia Marchenkova
August 24, 2026
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) launches Project Triad, a first-of-its-kind initiative to integrate quantum sensing, quantum networking, and quantum computing into a single operational system, laying the scientific and technological foundation needed to refine, scale, and commercialize these systems through U.S. industry. This project advances the administration's vision to reinforce U.S. dominance and strategic advantage in quantum technology."
- NSF.gov
July maintained the developmental trajectory associated with the quantum industry across policy, infrastructure, and commercial ecosystems. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched Project Triad, a first-of-its-kind initiative to integrate quantum sensing, quantum networking, and quantum computing into a single operational system, laying the scientific and technological foundation needed to refine, scale, and commercialize these systems through U.S. industry.
Also, there are more investment inflows from government and VCs into the quantum industry to develop new and existing quantum technologies and infrastructure. Oratomic raises $300 million to build a viable quantum computer that needs only 20,000 qubits; PsiQuantum signs a $125 million agreement with DARPA; QuantumDiamonds raises €91 million to set the global standard for next-generation chip inspection; and the CQE-led Bloch Quantum Tech Hub raises $55 million to build a U.S. quantum supply chain.
On the commercial side, BTQ Technologies completes the acquisition of QPerfect and partners with ICTK to complete the design of a next-generation QCIM security chip integrating PUF technology; AT&T signs an agreement to expand the use of D-Wave's quantum computing technology across its network operations; and Hitachi, Intel, and AIST launch a silicon quantum computing project backed by the Japanese government. In addition, a new Quantinuum-SoftBank white paper shows quantum computing can deliver value before the fault-tolerant era.
July sustained the momentum of investments, collaborations, and new technical and managerial appointments by quantum companies for the development and early-stage, niche implementation of new and existing quantum technologies in commercial and industrial ecosystems.
BTQ Technologies and ICTK Complete Design of Next-Generation QCIM Security Chip Integrating PUF Technology
BTQ Technologies Corp., a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission-critical networks, announced that it has completed the design of its next-generation QCIM + PUF security chip for the quantum era in collaboration with ICTK Co., Ltd., a leading Korean secure element chip company and developer of VIA PUF™ technology.
The chip combines BTQ's in-house Quantum Compute-in-Memory (QCIM) security intellectual property with ICTK's VIA PUF™ technology, creating a hardware-rooted security platform that supports unique device authentication, cryptographic acceleration, and trusted device identity at the silicon level. Production preparation is now underway.
This milestone builds on BTQ's existing collaboration with ICTK. BTQ and ICTK first signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2025 to explore quantum-secure hardware solutions combining BTQ's post-quantum cryptography expertise with ICTK's secure-chip, PUF, and hardware-level security capabilities.
"The recent U.S. Executive Orders accelerating quantum innovation and post-quantum cybersecurity highlight that trusted quantum infrastructure is rapidly becoming a national priority. We believe our QCIM and PUF platform is well-positioned to support this transition by enabling hardware-rooted trust, secure device identity, and cryptographic agility for critical infrastructure, connected devices, AI systems, and industrial networks. Completing the design of our next-generation QCIM quantum-security chip is an important step toward bringing BTQ's security IP into deployable semiconductor infrastructure for the quantum era."
BTQ Technologies Completes Acquisition of QPerfect, Advancing Its Mission of Building Trusted Quantum Technologies With World-Class Emulation, Digital Twin, and Control Capabilities
BTQ Technologies Corp., a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission-critical networks, announced it has completed the acquisition of QPerfect SA, a French quantum computing company based in Strasbourg specializing in quantum software, emulation, digital twin capabilities, and control systems.
The acquisition strengthens BTQ's ability to build technologies for the transition from classical infrastructure toward trusted quantum systems. By integrating QPerfect's technology and team, BTQ adds three important capabilities to its expanding Quantum Ready infrastructure stack:
MIMIQ: QPerfect's benchmark-leading quantum emulator, which enables developers and researchers to design, test, and validate quantum algorithms in software before deploying them on quantum hardware.
Digital Twin: QPerfect's system modeling capability, designed to create software-based representations of quantum systems.
Quantum Logical Unit (QLU): QPerfect's multi-layered control framework designed to support the development of scalable, fault-tolerant quantum systems.
"Completing the acquisition of QPerfect is an important milestone for BTQ. QPerfect brings world-class quantum software, emulation, digital twin, and neutral-atom expertise into our organization. These capabilities expand our technology stack and advance our mission of building trusted quantum technologies by helping organizations prepare for the software, modeling, validation, and control layers required for future quantum systems."
Quantum Infrastructure & Investment
 Oratomic Raises $300M to Build a Viable Quantum Computer That Needs Only 20K QubitsOratomic, a quantum computing startup, has raised a $300 million Series A to accelerate the development of a fault-tolerant, utility-scale quantum computer that it says could reach commercial use before the end of the decade. The startup says it needs roughly 10,000 to 20,000 qubits to build a useful quantum computer, which, Oratomic’s co-founder and CEO, Dolev Bluvstein, argues, is fundamentally simpler and less expensive. |  PsiQuantum Signs $125 Million Agreement with DARPAPsiQuantum, a leading quantum computing company using silicon photonics to develop fault-tolerant quantum computers, has announced the signing of a new $125 million expanded agreement with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), the U.S. government’s most rigorous effort to evaluate commercial pathways to utility-scale quantum computing. |
 QuantumDiamonds Raises €91 Million to Set the Global Standard for Next-Generation Chip InspectionQuantumDiamonds GmbH (QD), one of Europe’s fastest-growing semiconductor equipment companies, has announced the closing of a €91 million funding round to scale production of its quantum-based semiconductor inspection technology. The financing combines a €15 million equity round led by World Fund with €76 million in non-dilutive funding approved at the EU level under the European Chips Act. |  CQE-led Bloch Quantum Tech Hub Raises $55 Million to Build US Quantum Supply ChainThe Bloch Quantum Tech Hub has won nearly $55 million to build a national quantum supply chain, following a US Economic Development Administration (EDA) award that positions the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana region as the center of quantum manufacturing. The multisector project, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), leverages the Midwest’s existing manufacturing capacity, talent, and industry base to overcome a major hurdle to US quantum growth — reliance on imports that slow innovation, create security risks, and raise production costs. |
Quantum in Industry
AT&T Signs Agreement to Expand Use of D-Wave's Quantum Computing Technology Across Network Operations
D-Wave Quantum Inc., the only dual-platform quantum computing company providing both annealing and gate-model systems, software and services, and AT&T have announced that AT&T has signed an agreement to expand its use of D-Wave's quantum computing technology and plans to use it to address complex optimization challenges across its network operations.
In an early application, AT&T used D-Wave's technology to reduce the processing time for a network optimization workload from approximately one hour to less than 15 seconds. Building on this initial work, AT&T plans to explore using D-Wave’s quantum computing technology across a broader set of applications, such as outage detection and response, technician routing, network build planning, and traffic management.
AT&T’s work with D-Wave is a powerful example of how leading enterprises are beginning to turn to quantum computing for solving real business problems. AT&T has incredibly complex optimization problems across its network operations, understands where classical computing is challenged, and is moving quickly to explore where quantum can make an impact. We’re excited to work with AT&T to help drive speed, efficiency, and business value across its operations.”
“D-Wave’s annealing quantum computing technology gives us a new way to approach optimization and high-intensity compute challenges across AT&T’s network operations. The speed we’re seeing with D-Wave challenges what’s currently possible. It has the potential to help us optimize faster, increase efficiency, and scale more real-time operations, making quantum a practical tool for advancing how we run and modernize our network.”
Hitachi, Intel and AIST Launch Silicon Quantum Computing Project Backed by Japanese Government
Hitachi has launched a government-backed research effort with Intel K.K. (the Japanese subsidiary of Intel Corporation) and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to develop silicon-based quantum computing technologies aimed at moving the field from laboratory research toward industrial deployment.
According to a Hitachi press release, the company has been selected by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, or NEDO, to lead a project under the agency’s “Accelerating the Development and Demonstration of Next-Generation Quantum Computers to Solve Social Challenges” program. The effort, which is scheduled to run through March 2029, will focus on technologies needed to manufacture, package, and operate large-scale silicon quantum computers.
The research program is organized around four technical objectives.
The development of industrial-quality silicon quantum computers with at least 100 qubits.
The creation of a process design kit, or PDK, for silicon quantum chips.
Three-dimensional integration technologies needed for future systems containing approximately 1,000 qubits.
Deployment of a cloud platform that will give researchers remote access to experimental quantum hardware.
Hitachi said it plans to launch an initial cloud service based on the technologies developed in the project during fiscal 2027 before expanding those services in stages. The company also aims to demonstrate a prototype silicon quantum computer implementing quantum error-correcting codes with approximately 100 qubits during fiscal 2028. A larger prototype incorporating roughly 1,000 qubits is targeted for fiscal 2030.
Quantum Computing Breakthroughs
 Pusan National University Researchers Have Developed a Hybrid Quantum Network with Indistinguishable Quantum SourcesIn a breakthrough study, a research team led by Professor Han Seb Moon from the Department of Physics at Pusan National University and Professor Je-Hyung Kim from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea has successfully achieved indistinguishable photon generation from two distinct quantum systems: a cesium atomic ensemble and a semiconductor quantum dot. |  IBM and Qedma Demonstrate Quantum Advantage, Modeling Physics Beyond Classical Capabilities Through Trusted Quantum ComputationQedma Quantum Computing, a pioneer in quantum error reduction software, and IBM have announced a breakthrough study demonstrating how trusted, error-mitigated quantum computation is possible and can be used to explore the physics of materials beyond the capabilities of state-of-the-art classical simulations, including those run on one of the world's most powerful supercomputers. |
 HRL Demonstrates a Silicon Quantum Processor That Runs ItselfHRL Laboratories has published a quantum computing milestone in Nature: a quantum processor that runs itself. Quantum computers normally depend on racks of external electronics to generate every control signal. HRL replaced those racks with a custom control chip that sits near the qubits, in the extreme cold. The combined system autonomously ran error correction, an essential routine for any future quantum computer. |  Northwestern University Researchers Demonstrate Quantum Entanglement Over Busy Telecom FiberNorthwestern University researchers demonstrated that entangled photons can be distributed over a 24.4-kilometer metropolitan fiber-optic cable connecting Evanston and downtown Chicago while the same cable simultaneously carried high-capacity internet traffic. Even amid the torrent of conventional data, the quantum signals remained remarkably intact — preserving entanglement with more than 94% fidelity. |
South Korea Discusses Quantum Cooperation with Canada, U.K., EU
South Korea has held separate high-level round-table meetings with government and science representatives from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) in the first week of July to discuss cooperation in the field of quantum science.
The series of meetings came on the sidelines of Quantum Korea 2026, hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, with the goal of exploring global trends in the quantum sector with global researchers, related companies, and government officials.
The discussions with Canada focused on ways to promote joint research and development of projects as well as personnel exchanges in the quantum field.
In the meetings with the U.K and the EU, talks focused on measures to materialize the agreement reached during President Lee Jae Myung's visit to the EU in June. At the time, South Korea and the EU agreed to expand joint research and exchanges of experts in future industries, including quantum technologies.
Quantum Security & Blockchain
 Keyfactor Expands Global Partner Ecosystem to Help Partners Lead the AI and Post-Quantum EraKeyfactor, the leader in trust infrastructure for AI and machines, has announced a major expansion of its Global Partner Program, designed to help partners capitalize on one of the largest security transformations in decades. The expanded program equips partners to deliver crypto-agility and quantum readiness services, establish post-quantum cryptography (PQC) Centers of Excellence, and strengthen their role as trusted advisors helping customers navigate increasingly complex, multi-technology environments. |  QoreChain Records the First Fully Post-Quantum Transaction in the History of BlockchainQoreChain, a quantum-safe, AI-native Layer 1 blockchain, has recorded what it describes as the first transaction in blockchain’s history to be secured end-to-end on a live public mainnet by all three NIST-standardized post-quantum algorithms. The transaction, a transfer of 1,000 QOR completed on 2 July 2026 and sent to a wallet created in the widely used Keplr wallet, is live on the network and viewable by anyone on the public block explorer. |
📊Market Insights
New Quantinuum-SoftBank White Paper Shows Quantum Computing Can Deliver Value Before Fault-Tolerant Era
Quantinuum and SoftBank Corp. have announced the publication of “Quantum Computing Frontiers,” a joint white paper that maps two commercially relevant quantum computing application areas against Quantinuum’s hardware roadmap. The analysis examines how advances in quantum hardware and algorithms could affect when these applications become practical for industrial use.
The paper focuses on two representative application domains that SoftBank is actively using Quantinuum’s systems to research: quantum chemistry for new materials discovery and energy research, and topological data analysis for large-scale graph analytics, including for telecommunications fraud detection. Building on this use-case roadmap, the paper also examines how quantum computing, AI, and high-performance computing could be integrated into future computing infrastructure.
“The key takeaway of this study is that organizations do not need to wait for large-scale, fault-tolerant systems to explore where quantum computing can begin creating value. By using today’s systems to develop, benchmark, and refine applications in areas such as quantum chemistry and graph analytics, enterprises can build the technical and operational readiness needed for the next era of quantum-enabled computing.”
“The question is no longer whether quantum computing may deliver value, but rather which problem classes become executable at which stage of hardware maturity. However, we believe progress in hardware must be complemented by equally strong developments in quantum algorithms and the integration of quantum systems with AI and high-performance computing.”
📬 Stay Connected
July kept pace with increased investment inflows from governments and VCs, more collaborations by startups and companies in and outside the quantum industry, and the niche application of quantum technologies for commercial and industrial purposes, while the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched Project Triad, a first-of-its-kind initiative to integrate quantum sensing, quantum networking, and quantum computing into a single operational system, laying the scientific and technological foundation needed to refine, scale, and commercialize these systems through U.S. industry.
Across the board:
More investments are pouring in, with multi-million-dollar funding to advance quantum technology development and deployment and to expand or build new infrastructure.
Strategic collaborations are on the increase, from BTQ-ICTK to AT&T-D-Wave Quantum to Hitachi-Intel-AIST.
Quantum technology is seeing more early-stage, niche use cases, as quantum applications are now gradually finding their way into niche commercial and industrial workflows.
Contact us at quantumstate@btq.tech
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