NQCC report shows all seven UK quantum testbeds delivered and under evaluation

[Frost Jay]

The UK's flagship quantum testbed programme has reached an important milestone. The Quantum Insider reports that the National Quantum Computing Centre at Harwell has published its Phase 1 report on the £30 million Quantum Computing Testbed Initiative

The programme paid seven hardware suppliers to install prototype quantum computers at the NQCC, covering five different technologies. Aegiq and ORCA Computing brought photonic systems, Infleqtion and QuEra brought neutral atom machines, and Oxford Ionics, now owned by IonQ, supplied a trapped ion system. Quantum Motion installed its silicon spin QM One, and Rigetti upgraded its superconducting testbed from 24 to 36 qubits, adding Riverlane's Deltaflow decoder for real time error correction experiments

All seven contracts were completed during 2025, although an early target of having two thirds delivered by the end of March 2025 was only partly met. Six testbeds are now going through independent technical evaluation led by the University of Edinburgh's Quantum Software Lab, with the seventh in pre-evaluation. Another £4.6 million has gone into follow on collaborative projects

NQCC director Michael Cuthbert called the delivery a significant milestone for quantum computing in the UK, while noting it is still early to judge the wider impact. Deputy director Simon Plant said the main Phase 2 work, covering test frameworks, error studies and applications in simulation, optimisation and machine learning, finishes in the second quarter of 2027. A Cambridge study found suppliers valued having the NQCC as an early customer, though some struggled to access packaging, electronics testing and cloud services

Hosting seven different technologies side by side is a rare opportunity to compare them fairly. The report is more about delivery than performance, so the evaluation results will be the real story. Still, getting every system installed and running is no small feat

Which technology do you expect to come out best in the evaluation? And is the UK getting good value from programmes like this?

Report: UK's £30 Million Quantum Testbed Program Helps Suppliers Advance Toward Commercial Deploymentthequantuminsider.com