Almost half of respondents rank a clear fault-tolerance roadmap, 

BOSTON, MA — September 15, 2026 —

The third and final installment of QuEra Computing’s 2026 Quantum Readiness Survey found that while almost half (45%) of respondents said a clear roadmap to fault tolerance is one of the most important criteria when selecting quantum technology, a third (34%) said it is still too early to determine which quantum computing modality holds the most promise for practical, scalable applications.  

Over three-quarters (78%) of responses also shared that quantum error correction (QEC), a fundamental component of fault-tolerant quantum computing, is either critical or very important to achieving commercial value in their target applications. For this respondent group, progress appears to have left physical qubit counts behind: only five responses (4%) cited hardware scaling or increases in qubit count.

“The quantum computing industry has a range of competing architectures, but customers are getting more discerning about what they need to see from them,” said Yuval Boger, Chief Commercial Officer at QuEra Computing. “What used to be ‘nice to have’ like proven and scalable quantum error correction approach has now transitioned to ‘must have’ category.”  

Among named modalities, neutral atoms were selected as the leading architecture by a quarter of respondents (23%), followed by superconducting qubits and trapped ions (15% and 11%, respectively). With no clear consensus on the leading architecture, cost-effectiveness was the most important criterion when selecting quantum technology, chosen by half of respondents (50%). 

The survey’s open-ended responses also point to the importance of error correction and logical-qubit performance. When asked which single development from the past year they believed would have the greatest impact on quantum computing’s trajectory, error correction, QEC and logical-qubit milestones formed the largest coded theme, appearing in a third of substantive responses (33%).

About the 2026 Quantum Readiness Survey

The online survey collected 291 complete responses in January 2026 from respondents across more than 25 countries, spanning academia, quantum-technology companies, end-user organisations, government and other engaged stakeholders. Questions 18 to 20 were answered by 267 respondents; the open-ended analysis of Question 24 covers 137 substantive responses. 

The survey was commissioned by QuEra Computing. Its self-selected sample is more technically engaged and more research-oriented than the wider business population, so the findings should be read as the views of an engaged quantum stakeholder group rather than as representative of all organisations. 

All three parts of of the 2026 Quantum Readiness Survey are available at www.quera.com/26survey.