What’s in store for quantum computing in 2026? More “practical use cases,” says Zoran Krunic, Senior Manager of Data Science at Amgen Research. “Moving the field towards practical quantum computing,” explains Krunic, means “pinpointing the specific problems where quantum computing may have a real advantage over classical computing.”
Amgen Research collaborated last year with Merck, Deloitte, and QuEra Computing on such a practical problem, exploring a case study in drug development. Using a hybrid quantum-classical computing system, they successfully addressed a common challenge in pharmaceutical research: making reliable predictions from small datasets, such as those found in early-stage clinical trials or rare-disease cohorts.
The case study demonstrated that with a small data set, “we can do better [with quantum computing] than classical: better prediction, smaller variability,” says Krunic. “Quantum is capable of capturing the underlying data distribution presentation better because it’s based on different mathematics than classical machine learning.”
For QuEra, this case study serves as an example of what can be achieved today with hybrid systems in high-performance computing or HPC environments. Last year, QuEra completed its first on-premises installation at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, integrating its system with an Nvidia supercomputer, to drive “the development of practical applications in fields like AI, energy, and biology.” Further advancing this HPC camel’s nose commercial strategy, QuEra and Dell Technologies showcased last November how classical and quantum resources can be tightly integrated, “paving the way for HPC-ready hybrid quantum–classical computing (HQCC) with secure data governance and low latency.”
QuEra’s focus on the practicality, affordability and efficiency of quantum computing was made clear to me in a recent conversation with its chief executive officer, Andy Ory, chief tech strategist, Nate Gemelke, and chief commercial officer, Yuval Boger. Gemelke explains QuEra’s neutral-atom approach to quantum computing: “We use tiny laser beams that capture individual atoms in place. Think of it like a bank safe you see in the movies, with laser beams from the ceiling, and the villain trying to skate between them. Because we capture the atoms, we essentially make them almost perfectly still. That’s equivalent to bringing them to a temperature very, very close to absolute zero. But the entire system itself, other than the lasers, is at room temperature.”
QuEra’s executives argue that the neutral-atom approach to quantum computing, supporting room-temperature operations and low power consumption and a compact, energy-efficient footprint, would yield a small system powered by 30 kilowatts and costing a few million dollars. This they compare to IBM’s and Google’s superconducting approach to quantum computing, which eventually may scale to a system the size of a football field, powered by 100 megawatts and costing a billion dollars.
Furthermore, neutral atoms are highly mobile, facilitating the dynamic rearrangement of qubits for efficient algorithms and new error correction techniques. With fewer operations requiring error correction, QuEra’s approach “has the potential to reduce the space–time cost of practical fault-tolerant quantum computation by over an order of magnitude.”
Beyond the specific choice of a quantum modality, however, there’s the selection of a specific go-to-market approach. In this case, it focuses on solving practical challenges where quantum computers could make a difference compared to classical computers. Boger makes the distinction between “hardware innovation” and “use innovation.” When QuEra was established, he says, “we were very careful to make sure that we got roughly equal parts of use innovation and hardware innovation. We hired people to develop algorithms in-house, talk to end users, trying to understand the domain that they’re working in, the problems that they’re trying to solve, and then they try to turn those into algorithms that we can deploy in the hardware.”
The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Technological breakthroughs, integration with AI, and advancements in quantum error correction all led to large funding rounds in 2025, including $230 million raised by QuEra. When I asked Ory about 2026, he talked about quantum talent. At quantum-related conferences, he is seeing a significant increase in attendance. “We are creating a flywheel,” says Ory. “I think we’re reaching a critical mass in 2026 in terms of the human talent required” to tackle the challenges of quantum computing.
Another prediction for 2026, from Quantum Computing Report, sees increased consolidation, expecting “to see a peer group of ‘quantum primes’ emerge as a result.” In the neutral-atom space, that could mean the merger of QuEra and Atom Computing, which is scheduled to deliver (with Microsoft) this year a full-stack quantum computer to the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. In another quantum computing modality, trapped ions, IonQ just announced the acquisition of chip maker SkyWater Technology, “creating the only vertically integrated full-stack quantum platform company.”
The ultimate proof of quantum computing—and the foundation of eventual winners—is utility and affordability. “Practical use cases are ultimately the test,” says Amgen’s Krunic. “Then you loop those experiences back into the quantum design and just keep iterating.”
