DOE launches $215 million contest to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2028

The Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis Q Competition aims to fund the creation of the first fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computer by fall 2028, with a total budget of up to $215 million subject to congressional approval. Up to ten awardees will be chosen, each receiving $250,000 initially and up to $1.5 million contingent on meeting milestone criteria, including a validated prototype featuring at least 10 logical qubits that can perform 1,000 hard operations.

Teams that meet this prototype target become eligible for a $100 million incentive pool to develop a first-generation system with at least 100 logical qubits capable of 100,000 hard operations. The DOE’s targets emphasize logical-qubit error correction, distinguishing them from recent physical-qubit advances such as Caltech’s 6,100-qubit array. Companies like QuEra, which plans a Libra system with over 256 logical qubits and a logical error rate of 10⁻⁶, could be strong contenders, though none have formally entered the contest.