New Tech Partnership Aims to Build More Reliable Quantum Computers
Pisa, Wednesday, 15 July 2026.
Quantum Elements and Planckian have partnered to design reliable quantum computers using digital twins, simulating a 97-qubit system on a classical computer in just one hour.
Addressing the Scaling Bottleneck in Superconducting Quantum Hardware
On July 14, 2026, Los Angeles-based Quantum Elements and Italy-based Planckian announced a strategic technical partnership to design advanced superconducting quantum processors [1][3]. Both companies, which were founded in 2023, are privately held and do not currently trade on public stock exchanges, meaning no public ticker symbols are available [1][3][GPT]. The collaboration aims to tackle the physical scaling limitations of quantum computers by integrating Quantum Elements’ proprietary Digital Twins platform with Planckian’s unique chip architecture [1][2][3].
Addressing the Scaling Bottleneck in Superconducting Quantum Hardware
Planckian’s proprietary chip architecture is designed to address scaling bottlenecks in superconducting quantum computers by decoupling control lines from the total qubit count [1][3]. While this approach removes the control complexity and infrastructure overhead that typically prevents conventional superconducting processors from scaling, it also reshapes the errors the system has to contend with [1][3]. According to Michele Dallari, co-founder and CEO of Planckian, this makes architecture-specific characterization essential, as the company requires a faithful picture of its own noise environment before deciding how to correct errors [1][3].
The Power of Digital Twins and Quantum Monte Carlo Simulation
To address these custom noise profiles, the partnership leverages Quantum Elements’ Digital Twins platform [2]. This software-based platform enables the classical simulation of quantum system noise characteristics, bypassing the exponential computational requirements typically associated with full density-matrix simulations [2]. By tracking system dynamics while reducing computational resource requirements, the platform allows developers to model noisy quantum circuits realistically well ahead of physical scaling [3].
The Power of Digital Twins and Quantum Monte Carlo Simulation
The practical viability of this digital twin technology was demonstrated on July 13, 2026, in a collaborative study involving Quantum Elements, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the University of Southern California (USC), and Harvard University [1][2][3]. The researchers successfully simulated a 97-physical-qubit, distance-7 surface-code syndrome-extraction round [1][3]. Using a Quantum Monte Carlo-accelerated digital twin, the simulation executed in approximately 1 hour on a single classical compute node [1][2][3].
The Power of Digital Twins and Quantum Monte Carlo Simulation
This performance represents a massive computational leap. A brute-force full open-system simulation of the same 97-qubit system would require calculating or tracking 2.5108406941546725e+49 billion density-matrix entries [3]—a task that is practically impossible on classical hardware [GPT]. (Note: Some alternative technical reports transcribe this exponential requirement as 497 entries due to formatting typos, but the underlying mathematical complexity remains exponentially prohibitive [1][2]). By replacing this exponential overhead with classical noise modeling, the digital twin allows hardware developers to evaluate error-correction schemes on classical computers [2][3].
A Credible Path to Commercial Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
For the broader quantum industry, Quantum Error Correction (QEC) remains the definitive bottleneck preventing commercialization [GPT]. Izhar Medalsy, co-founder and CEO of Quantum Elements, emphasized that their Digital Twins platform provides a clear development path from system co-design to QEC, and ultimately to fault-tolerant quantum computing for Planckian and other hardware manufacturers [1][3]. The partnership will focus on characterizing coherence, leakage, and operation-level error sources tailored specifically to Planckian’s hardware [3].
A Credible Path to Commercial Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
By establishing a realistic model of their processors on classical hardware well ahead of physical fabrication, the two companies are laying the groundwork for a credible path to fault tolerance [1][3]. For enterprise leaders and technology investors, this collaboration represents a critical step toward building stable, utility-scale quantum systems [1]. If successful, accelerating the development of reliable quantum processors could significantly pull forward the timeline for commercial quantum applications in complex fields such as logistics, cryptography, and financial modeling [GPT].