PsiQuantum has signed a $125 million agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), expanding its role in the agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI), which evaluates commercial pathways to utility-scale quantum computing.
The award is the company’s largest government contract to date. It will fund testing, validation and infrastructure as PsiQuantum works to build fault-tolerant quantum computers.
PsiQuantum is one of only two companies to reach Stage C, the final phase of QBI. The stage is focused on independently verifying whether a company’s technology can deliver a utility-scale quantum computer.
The new agreement will support evaluation of PsiQuantum’s hardware, critical components, system performance and software. It will also fund infrastructure at the company’s facilities in Milpitas, California, and Chicago, Illinois.
DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is designed to assess competing quantum computing technologies using a technology-neutral approach. Rather than favouring a specific architecture, the programme evaluates whether each company has a credible path to building commercially useful quantum systems.
Victor Peng, Chief Executive Officer of PsiQuantum, said the programme had subjected the company’s technology to extensive technical scrutiny.
“DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is one of the most comprehensive and rigorous government programmes for evaluating emerging technology that I have ever seen,” Peng said. He added that the agency’s independent assessment had strengthened both the company’s technology and development plans.
PsiQuantum first joined DARPA’s quantum programme in January 2023 under the Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) initiative. It advanced to the second stage in 2024 before entering Stage C in February 2025.
In September 2025, the company secured a $31.8 million agreement to continue on-site testing under Stage C. The latest award significantly expands that work across hardware, software, architecture and supporting infrastructure.
According to PsiQuantum, DARPA has carried out extensive technical reviews of its programme. The company has provided prototype design reports, demonstrated key hardware components, opened fabrication and measurement processes for inspection, and shared performance data and algorithm resource estimates. DARPA has also evaluated Construct, PsiQuantum’s fault-tolerant algorithm development platform.
Dr Pete Shadbolt, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of PsiQuantum, said the agency’s rigorous evaluation had helped strengthen the company’s technology roadmap.
“The programme has been intentionally sceptical by design,” Shadbolt said. “That scrutiny has significantly strengthened our plans.”
Earlier this year, Micah Stoutimore, Managing Director of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, said the field had advanced rapidly and that it now appeared likely someone could build a utility-scale quantum computer by 2033.
The DARPA award follows another federal commitment announced by PsiQuantum in May 2026, when the company signed a Letter of Intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $100 million in proposed incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act. The funding is intended to support domestic quantum computing and semiconductor development.
PsiQuantum has also expanded collaborations with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and several National Laboratories.
Governments are increasing investment in quantum technologies as the race to develop practical quantum computers intensifies. Programmes such as DARPA’s QBI aim to identify the technologies most likely to deliver fault-tolerant quantum systems capable of solving problems beyond the reach of today’s classical computers.
