HomeFull speed ahead. Keep track of advancements in every frontier

TheTechno Optimist.

Quantinuum—HeliosQuantinuum—HeliosQuantinuum—HeliosQuantinuum—HeliosQuantinuum—
Helios
Courtesy of Quantinuum · Press kit, editorial use (opens quantinuum.com)

Helios

by QuantinuumUSGB

DeployStage 4 of 5

Sold since November 2025, via the cloud and on-premises.

Updated 8 Sep 2026Checked 25 Sep0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · Sol (192 qubits)
  1. Honeywell System Model H1 launched2020Complete.
  2. H2 launched with 32 qubits9 May 2023Complete.
  3. First 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelityApr 2024Complete.
  4. H2 upgraded to 56 qubitsJun 2024Complete.
  5. Helios launched (98 qubits)5 Nov 2025Complete.
  6. Sol (192 qubits)Target 2027Not yet reached.
  7. Apollo universal fault-tolerant systemTarget 2029Not yet reached.

Most important updates

  • 8 Sep 2026
  • 13 Aug 2026
  • 11 Aug 2026
  • 5 Nov 2025
  • 3 Apr 2024

Upcoming

  1. 2027Sol (192 qubits) (next)
  2. 2029Apollo universal fault-tolerant system

Current obstacles

  • Transport time and heatingMoving and re-cooling ions takes most of the run time and adds errors. Faster, cleaner moves allow longer programs.
  • Optics for hundreds of ionsAiming stable laser light at many zones needs optics built into the trap itself.

Physics limits

  • Ions are slowIon gates take tens to hundreds of microseconds, and moving ions takes longer, roughly a thousand times slower than superconducting gates. Deep error-corrected algorithms could take days.
  • Laser optics grow with every ionEach gate needs precisely aimed, stable laser light. Delivering it to hundreds of ions without stray light reaching neighbours needs complex optics that get harder with every qubit added.
  • Electrode noise heats ionsMoving ions shakes them, and electric-field noise from nearby electrode surfaces heats them further. That noise rises steeply (about 1/distance⁴) as traps shrink, which fights miniaturisation.

How it works

4 parts
A NIST ion-trap chip in its copper mount, not Helios: charged atoms float just above the gold chip, held in place by its electrodes' voltages
A NIST ion-trap chip in its copper mount, not Helios: charged atoms float just above the gold chip, held in place by its electrodes' voltagesPhoto: National Institute of Standards and Technology · Public domain (opens commons.wikimedia.org)
Trap

Ions held by electric fields

Charged barium atoms float above a chip, held by electric fields in a cold, ultra-high vacuum.

Qubit

Two energy levels

Each qubit is two energy levels of one ion. They are identical across all ions and very long-lived.

Gates

Laser-driven entanglement

Two ions are moved into a gate zone, where lasers link their states through their shared wobble.

Routing

Junction-based sorting

A ring-and-junction trap lets ions be rotated and sorted, so any pair can meet quickly.

Spec sheet

vs H2 (56 qubits)
SpecHeliosH2 (56 qubits)Change
Physical qubits98R (reported)56 (H2)—no comparable change
Qubit ionBarium-137R (reported)Ytterbium-171—no comparable change
Two-qubit gate fidelity99.921%R (reported)——no comparable change
Single-qubit gate fidelity99.9975%R (reported)——no comparable change
Error-corrected logical qubits48R (reported)——no comparable change
Error-detected logical qubits94R (reported)——no comparable change
ConnectivityAll-to-all (via ion transport)R (reported)——no comparable change

R reported by the company

Papers & demos

2 items
  1. Mar 2025paper
    Certified randomness using a trapped-ion quantum processor (opens nature.com)With JPMorgan, made randomness certified by supercomputers, a first practical use claim.
  2. Apr 2024paper
    Demonstration of logical qubits with Microsoft (H2) (opens arxiv.org)Four logical qubits with error rates up to 800 times below physical rates.

Update log

6 updates

Tue 8 Sep

  • Minor: PressFunding

Thu 13 Aug

  • Minor: PressManufacturing

Tue 11 Aug

  • Minor: PressPartnership

Wed 5 Nov 2025

  • Major: PressHardware

Wed 3 Apr 2024

  • Major: BlogResearch

Tue 9 May 2023

  • Minor: PressHardware

About Quantinuum

The team behind Helios

Quantinuum

Trapped-ion computers, Helios, H2

Formed in 2021 by merging Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum. Its trapped-ion computers hold gate-accuracy records. It launched 98-qubit Helios in November 2025 and listed on Nasdaq in June 2026. Honeywell remains majority owner.

  • IPO on 4 June 2026 raised $1.68B at $60 a share. Honeywell and Cambridge Quantum holders kept about 82%.
  • Helios (Nov 2025): 98 barium qubits with 99.921% two-qubit fidelity.
  • Roadmap: Sol (192 qubits) in 2027, fault-tolerant Apollo in 2029.

quantinuum.com (opens quantinuum.com)Company profile →

Founded
20215 yrs
Headquarters
United StatesUnited Kingdom
Status
Publicof Honeywell
Listed
QNT (opens google.com)NASDAQ
Valuation
$13Bmarket capSep 2026
Raised
$900M2 rounds
Last round
IPO · $1.7BJun 2026
Works in
QuantumTrapped ion
Coverage
1 program · 10 updateslatest 8 Sep 2026checked 25 Sep
Lead investors
Quanta ComputerNVenturesQED InvestorsJPMorgan Chase
Customers
JPMorgan Chase (opens jpmorganchase.com)
Partners
MicrosoftNVIDIAAl Rabban Capital (opens quantinuum.com)
Investors
Honeywell (opens honeywell.com)
People
Rajeev HazraPresident and CEO
Primer