2026 Predictions and the Road to 40,000 Logical Qubits — with Photonic

From The Post-Quantum World by Protiviti

January 7, 2026 · 47 min · Episode 119

About this episode

Paul Terry discusses the advancements in quantum computing and predictions for 2026.

Let’s look to 2026 and recap a pivotal 2025 with Paul Terry, CEO of Photonic. Explore why the industry has officially moved past the era of noisy qubits into the race for fault-tolerant, "gold-standard" logical qubits. Paul joins host Konstantinos Karagiannis to break down Photonic’s selection for DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative Stage B and explains how their unique distributed architecture — which uses telecom-grade photons to entangle qubits across networks — allows them to bypass the scaling limitations of monolithic chips. He also details the game-changing shift to LDPC error correction codes, which is drastically reducing the physical resources needed to achieve utility-scale quantum computing. Paul offers a series of provocative predictions for the coming year, ranging from G7 governments "leaning in" heavily on funding to the emergence of AI as the primary interface for programming quantum machines. He outlines an ambitious roadmap to have 40,000 logical qubits in service by 2030, unlocking massive potential in chemistry and finance, while also addressing the looming reality of the quantum threat to encryption. Tune in to hear why the network is becoming the…

People in this episode

Host: Konstantinos Karagiannis

Guest: Paul Terry

Topics covered

quantum computing
logical qubits
error correction
photonic technology
AI in quantum programming
encryption threats
future predictions

Keywords

quantum computing
logical qubits
LDPC error correction
photonic technology
AI programming
encryption
DARPA
G7 funding

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Photonic, DARPA, G7, Protiviti