--- title: The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical... description: Quantinuum's new Helios trapped-ion quantum computer runs 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion machine built so far, up from 32 qubits in 2023 and 56... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical Quantum Computer Just Took a Big Leap Forward | daily.dev og:description: Quantinuum's new Helios trapped-ion quantum computer runs 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion machine built so far, up from 32 qubits in 2023 and 56... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yu3mcHuOE.png og:image:alt: The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical Quantum Computer Just Took a Big Leap Forward og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical Quantum Computer Just Took a Big Leap Forward **[The Quantum Insider](https://daily.dev/sources/thequantuminsider)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Quantinuum's new Helios trapped-ion quantum computer runs 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion machine built so far, up from 32 qubits in 2023 and 56 in 2025. It uses a QCCD (quantum charge-coupled device) architecture with a rosette-shaped layout featuring a four-way X junction that lets it handle multiple transport and processing tasks simultaneously, paired with new control software called Helios runtime. This reduces crosstalk, enables mid-computation error correction, and connects distant qubits more efficiently, letting Helios perform benchmark computations beyond classical supercomputers' practical reach. However, these are random benchmark tests with limited practical value, and reaching fault-tolerant quantum computing would require roughly a million qubits and connecting thousands of QCCD devices, a formidable unsolved engineering challenge. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How many qubits does Quantinuum's Helios quantum computer have? Helios operates with 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion quantum computer built so far. This surpasses Quantinuum's earlier machines, which had 32 qubits in 2023 and 56 qubits in 2025. Helios uses a QCCD (quantum charge-coupled device) architecture with a rosette-shaped layout and a four-way X junction connecting a storage ring to two processing streamers. _Track hardware milestones like this on daily.dev as quantum computing architectures keep evolving._ ### What is a QCCD architecture in trapped-ion quantum computers? QCCD stands for quantum charge-coupled device, an architecture invented in 2002 that separates storage and processing regions for qubits, similar to how classical computers separate memory from a CPU. Charged ions are physically transported via electric fields between these regions, and processing is done using laser pulses, differing from fixed-qubit approaches like superconducting architectures. _Developers curious about emerging computing paradigms follow architecture breakdowns like this via daily.dev._ ### How many qubits would be needed for a practical fault-tolerant quantum computer? Even the most optimistic estimates suggest fault-tolerant quantum computers need on the order of a million qubits, far beyond current devices. The UK National Quantum Strategy Mission 1 targets a fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of a trillion operations, while Helios's longest computation so far ran about 4,000 operations across 98 qubits. _Follow quantum computing progress reports on daily.dev to gauge how close practical systems really are._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Conversation: A New Quantum Computer Sets a High Watermark For Accuracy – Are We on The Verge of a Big Breakthrough?](https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-a-new-quantum-computer-sets-a-high-watermark-for-accuracy-are-we-on-the-verge-of-twcsorccc) · The Quantum Insider · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A new ion-based quantum computer makes error correction simpler](https://daily.dev/posts/a-new-ion-based-quantum-computer-makes-error-correction-simpler-nf3k08gdx) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [New quantum hardware puts the mechanics in quantum mechanics](https://daily.dev/posts/new-quantum-hardware-puts-the-mechanics-in-quantum-mechanics-tm1az3jid) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#quantum-computing](https://daily.dev/tags/quantum-computing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical Quantum Computer Just Took a Big Leap Forward","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe"},"datePublished":"2026-08-19T08:14:09.227Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T08:15:09.930Z","description":"Quantinuum's new Helios trapped-ion quantum computer runs 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion machine built so far, up from 32 qubits in 2023 and 56...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/965105096902dca7600560ae71cef82c?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/965105096902dca7600560ae71cef82c?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Quantum Insider","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Quantum Insider","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/7b14a6b34c1b464c9e8a88d9a0dac951","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/thequantuminsider"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"quantum-computing","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Quantum Insider","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/thequantuminsider"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Conversation: The Global Race to Make a Practical Quantum Computer Just Took a Big Leap Forward"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-conversation-the-global-race-to-make-a-practical-quantum-computer-just-took-a-big-leap-forward-yu3mchuoe#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How many qubits does Quantinuum's Helios quantum computer have?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Helios operates with 98 qubits, making it the largest trapped-ion quantum computer built so far. 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