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Microsoft’s work with Quantinuum and Atom Computing is aimed at making quantum computing more reliable by combining partner hardware with Microsoft’s qubit-virtualization and error-management methods. In 2024, the companies reported experiments producing entangled logical qubits on two different hardware platforms. Those milestones are not proof of practical quantum advantage, and the announcements do not establish current pricing or availability.
What the collaborations are trying to achieve
A quantum processor’s physical qubits are the hardware components that store and manipulate quantum information. A logical qubit encodes information across physical qubits and uses error-management techniques to make that information more dependable. It is not simply another name for a single hardware qubit.
Microsoft’s Qubit Virtualization overview explains the goal: “Logical qubit error rates must be below physical qubit error rates to be reliable, and thus useful.” The two partnerships test that approach using different hardware: Quantinuum’s trapped ions and Atom Computing’s neutral atoms.
Microsoft presents Azure Quantum and Azure Quantum Elements as a platform for bringing partner hardware together with virtualization, cloud high-performance computing (HPC), and AI tools. The idea is not that a larger count of logical qubits alone settles whether a machine is useful. Error rates, the operation being performed, and how the results compare with classical computing all matter.
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Quantinuum: trapped-ion experiments
April 2024: four logical qubits
In an April 3, 2024 announcement, Quantinuum said its H2 processor then had 32 physical qubits and the joint team used 30 to create four logical qubits. Quantinuum reported a logical error rate 800 times lower than the corresponding physical error rate and said it ran 14,000 independent circuit instances without an error. These are company-reported experimental results, not evidence that a general-purpose commercial quantum computer had solved a practical industry problem.
September 2024: 12 entangled logical qubits
In a September 10, 2024 announcement, Microsoft said the updated Quantinuum H2 system had 56 physical qubits and reported creating and entangling 12 logical qubits. For a 12-qubit cat state, also called a Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state, Microsoft reported a circuit error rate of 0.0011 for the logical qubits versus 0.024 for the corresponding physical qubits, which it described as a 22-fold improvement.
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Microsoft also reported a separate test using eight logical qubits: the team performed five rounds of repeated error correction and carried out a fault-tolerant computation during correction. For that experiment, Microsoft reported a circuit error rate of 0.002, compared with 0.023 for the corresponding physical qubits, or an 11-fold improvement. The 12-qubit entangled-state result and the eight-qubit repeated-correction test are distinct experiments.
Atom Computing: neutral-atom experiments
Twenty-four logical qubits and different loss conditions
In a November 19, 2024 technical post, Microsoft said the partners created and entangled 24 logical qubits in a cat/GHZ state using Atom Computing’s neutral-atom hardware and Microsoft’s virtualization system.
The reported error rate depended on how atom loss was handled. Microsoft reported 10.2% when the experiment detected errors and losses, compared with a 42% physical baseline. When the team detected and corrected errors and losses, the logical error rate was 26.6%. Microsoft described those respective comparisons as 4.1-fold and 1.6-fold improvements. The figures belong to this experiment and its specified conditions; they should not be collapsed into one rate.
A separate 28-qubit computation
The same post describes another result: 28 logical qubits, created from 112 physical qubits, were used for successful computations based on the Bernstein–Vazirani algorithm. Microsoft said the logical-qubit computation produced a more accurate solution than the corresponding physical-qubit computation. This was a separate test from the 24-qubit entangled-state experiment.
What the chemistry demonstration showed—and did not show
Microsoft’s September 2024 Azure Quantum technical account describes a hybrid chemistry workflow involving Quantinuum hardware, HPC, and an AI model. HPC tools identified an active space and reaction pathways for a catalytic intermediate. The team then used two logical qubits in a customized quantum algorithm and combined measurement outputs with an AI model to estimate the ground-state energy of that active space.
Microsoft reported a 97% likelihood that the logical-qubit computation produced a better estimate than the comparable physical-qubit computation. That is a comparison within the described experiment, not a claim that quantum computing beat classical computing at the task. Microsoft’s post states: “Using qubits to solve this problem does not demonstrate scientific quantum advantage because the answer can be derived with classical computers.”
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The same post said Quantinuum’s InQuanto computational-chemistry software was integrated into Azure Quantum Elements and available through private preview at that time. That dated statement does not establish whether the preview remains available or what its current access terms are.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the approaches compare
| Aspect | Quantinuum collaboration | Atom Computing collaboration |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware approach | Trapped-ion hardware, including the H2 processor. | Neutral-atom hardware. |
| Highlighted logical-qubit result | Microsoft reported 12 entangled logical qubits on a 56-physical-qubit H2 system in September 2024. | Microsoft reported 24 entangled logical qubits in November 2024; a separate test used 28 logical qubits from 112 physical qubits for Bernstein–Vazirani computations. |
| Error-handling emphasis | Microsoft reported five rounds of repeated error correction and a computation during correction in an eight-logical-qubit experiment. | Microsoft reported distinct error rates for detecting atom loss and for detecting and correcting it. |
| Scientific-workflow example | A specific hybrid chemistry estimate using quantum hardware, HPC, and AI; Microsoft said it did not demonstrate scientific quantum advantage. | The announcement emphasized a scientific-computing suite for work such as chemistry and materials science. |
These are separate experiments on different architectures, with different tests and error-handling conditions—not a controlled head-to-head benchmark. A larger logical-qubit count in one announcement therefore does not by itself establish that one platform is better.
What Microsoft announced about access
Microsoft’s 2024 announcements describe Azure Quantum and Azure Quantum Elements as ways to integrate partner systems with virtualization, cloud HPC, and AI. The Atom Computing announcement also described a commercial scientific-computing suite. Microsoft characterized Atom’s second-generation systems at the time as having over 1,200 physical qubits; that is a company description in a dated announcement, not a current independently verified specification.
The announcements establish what the companies said they were building or offering at the time they were published. They do not establish present-day orderability, delivery, pricing, access terms, or performance guarantees for either partner’s system. The September 2024 announcement also included Atom Computing CEO Ben Bloom’s view that the collaboration could help the company scale and reach scientific quantum advantage; that was a company executive’s stated ambition, not a demonstrated outcome.
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The reported work shows progress in creating and manipulating logical qubits, testing error correction, and combining quantum processors with conventional computing and AI. It does not yet establish that either partnership has demonstrated scientific quantum advantage or solved a practical problem better than classical computers. For a personal-finance reader, the distinction matters: ambitious company announcements and experimental milestones are not proof of a commercially mature technology or a consumer product available to buy.
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