Qolab has been selected as a co-leader, alongside Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), the company announced today.

“We are thrilled to be at the forefront of hardware development for this groundbreaking initiative,” Qolab CTO Dr. John Martinis said in a statement. “Our focus is on fabricating high-quality superconducting qubits leveraging the latest tools the semiconductor industry has to offer. We recognize the critical need for significant improvements in qubit fabrication, and we are dedicated to overcoming these challenges with our collaborators.”

According to a release, the QBI program aims to determine the feasibility of building an industrially useful quantum computer much faster than conventional predictions, with a goal of developing such a computer by 2033.

Dr. Martinis is leading all quantum hardware efforts.

Qolab is working with other collaborators including the University of Wisconsin, Applied Materials and Synopsys.