May 15, 2026
A Not-So-Bold Prediction
An email from HQI, France’s Hybrid HPC Quantum Initiative, noted that GENCI has acquired a “Ruby” neutral atom quantum computer from France-based Pasqal and a “Lucy” photonic quantum computer from France-based Quandela, and that it is now bidding out a cat qubit quantum computer. Gee, who could the winner possibly be?
This week’s IQT News:
This week’s premium content:
This week’s Friends of The Quantum Dragon:
In this edition:
While publishing last week’s newsletter, “Bow down to the king,” I discovered that Monarch Quantum is named after the monarch butterfly, not the regal ruler. Now I’m including it not to correct myself, but to point out that a bug is a most peculiar mascot for any company having anything to do with computing.
Dr. Scott Crowder of IBM polished this gem for the “Thinking On Paper” podcast. The full podcast offers the bonus phrase “you can follow along at home.”
Recent coverage of Quantum Motion gives the impression that the company is using everyday transistors as qubits. That should leave you scratching your head. Fortunately, this article does a much better job of explaining how silicon spin qubits are based on transistor technology, and that they’re not literally the same transistors.
A qubit has 6 basis states. This is the first time I’ve seen someone attempt to simplify the concept using the 6 sides of a standard die. It probably also gives you an opportunity to joke about God playing dice with the universe, but that’s neither here nor there. This link may require a Facebook account.
Despite being an aficionado of George Lucas Star Wars (R.I.P.), I resisted the urge to load up last week’s newsletter with gratuitous Star Wars Day content. However, Jan Brubacher of Toptica Photonics demonstrated that some companies have a lot of potential (not there yet) in this space. This link may require a LinkedIn account.
Four useful ideas in thirty-two years remains a remarkable ratio of effort to output….
Dr. Amit Hagar breathes a little fire in “Quantum Computers Could Revolutionize AI. Really. Google Quantum AI Just Proved It. On Paper.” After clicking around a little bit, I became a new subscriber, and I might start linking to his “Dear Quantum Computing Industry” Substack quite a bit.
Hilary Kaye’s “Behind the Scenes at HKA” has one glaring omission. Each morning brings in this and every day they monitor that, but you can’t mention mornings and gloss over coffee. Yeah, she’s being serious and professional, and I ain’t mad at her, but my coffee is literally steaming hot over it….

I was on the fence about adding this link because of a terribly annoying pop-up, but I can’t ignore an analogy that invokes such a funky-looking medieval bridge.
There’s nothing funny about this at all. What are you waiting for? The application deadline is May 29, 2026.
If you’re going to be in Delft on the evening of May 19, Orange Quantum Systems will be co-hosting a Quantum Meets Block Party 2026 with BBQ and drinks.
Yuval Boger is not only the best podcaster in the business; he’s also, as far as I’m aware, the first comic book author. Treat yourself to the 290-page “Quantum Bits With Quantessa and Atomique: The Comic Book Guide to Quantum Computing.” C’mon, you deserve it!
May 12, 2026
I spoke with Eric Hay, Senior Vice President of Field Engineering at Quantum XChange, about single-use private keys, the prevention of retrieval after they’ve been used, secure...
May 11, 2026
IQT NORDICS continues to add sponsors at a rapid pace as just this week DNV has been added to the exhibiting roster. 39 organizations are exhibiting or sponsoring at the largest...
May 8, 2026
I don’t cover partnership announcements, because news archives are graveyards of examples that went nowhere. I also don’t cover claims of “utility-scale, fault-tolerant systems by...
May 7, 2026
9 organizations under the auspices of Invest in Denmark and the Denmark Quantum Community are now part of the networking hall at IQT NORDICS in Oslo, Norway this June 22-24 at...
May 6, 2026
“Speedrunning” is when you complete a video game, or part of it, as quickly as you possibly can. You map the most efficient path, skip around the normal order of events, and maybe...
May 5, 2026
I have been an observer of conferences for over 50 years. I have always been a fierce competitor. It has been interesting for me to observe the event called Quantum.Tech compared...
May 1, 2026
The Quantum Dragon read "The Q-MONSTAR consortium: advancing fault-tolerant quantum computing for precision oncology" and thanks PsiQuantum for supporting the endeavor, but he...
April 29, 2026
The IQT NORDICS team is pleased to announce that Microsoft has become the June 24 Diamond sponsor. Microsoft joins with Quantum Machines (June 23 Diamond sponsor) and SealSQ as...