The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is evaluating quantum computing companies through the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) to “rigorously verify and validate whether any quantum computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation – meaning its computational value exceeds its cost – by the year 2033,” according to the agency.
The organizations evaluated by QBI. Credit: DARPA
An initial six-month phase of the effort, Stage A, involved 16 companies, which joined two firms from an earlier DARPA initiative. In November 2025, DARPA selected 11 companies to enter Stage B and may still add others. Two companies are currently in Stage C.
The push for utility-scale quantum computing
According to the agency’s announcement, DARPA now expects the participating companies to develop and detail their R&D plans, including identifying and mitigating the associated risks, and specifying the necessary risk-reduction prototypes. Companies successful in Stage B of the effort will be invited to progress to QBI’s final phase, Stage C, in which a test and evaluation team will attempt to determine if the utility-scale quantum computer concepts can actually be constructed as designed and operated as intended.
The program is not intended as a competition between performers, but as a way to evaluate all viable approaches for which there is available funding. Successful performers will progress through three stages.
Stage A is to describe a utility-scale quantum computer concept that has a plausible path to realization in the near term. Stage B is to describe a research and development plan capable of realizing the utility-scale quantum computer, the risks associated with the plan and the planned risk mitigation steps, as well as the prototypes needed to reduce the risks. Finally, Stage C is to work with the government to verify and validate that the utility-scale quantum computer concept can be constructed as designed and operated as intended.
Evaluating all viable approaches
In addition to funding performers, QBI will add value to their ongoing research and development efforts by providing unbiased third-party verification and validation of an organization’s path to a utility-scale quantum computer. QBI will also effectively communicate the results of this verification and validation effort to other U.S. government stakeholders.
The Stage A contract opportunity opened in March 2026 and concludes on Sept. 30, 2026. Organizations that have not yet been funded by QBI are invited to join. “Of particular interest are entrants with distinct approaches that have not yet been evaluated under QBI,” the agency stated in a press release. Selected participants will enter Stage A, a six-month period in which they will describe a full system concept and provide evidence supporting its feasibility.
