QuEra Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) jointly announced a major expansion of their strategic collaboration, centered on bringing QuEra’s first fault‑tolerant quantum computer, Libra, to Amazon Braket in 2028. The announcements, released separately by both companies, outline the technical capabilities of the upcoming system, the scientific progress that underpins it, and the long‑term vision for fault‑tolerant quantum computing in the cloud.
QuEra’s press release introduces Libra as a megaquop‑class system, “meaning it is designed to perform on the order of one million reliable, logical quantum operations.” The system is projected to feature over 256 error‑corrected logical qubits and a logical error rate of 10⁻⁶, with cloud availability on Amazon Braket in 2028.
QuEra emphasizes that fault‑tolerant quantum computers “are designed to run longer, deeper, and more reliable computations than today’s noisy quantum systems,” enabling potential workflows in molecular simulation, materials discovery, optimization, and other domains where classical computing faces scaling limits.
CEO Andy Ory stated: “Fault-tolerant quantum computing is moving from a scientific milestone to an engineering and deployment roadmap. We have executed this roadmap in the open, with peer-reviewed milestones and validated system advances. Libra brings fault-tolerant computing to the cloud at scale in 2028. It is an important step forward, and subsequent generations will scale even further, as we will reveal in our roadmap webinar later this month. We are inviting leaders to engage now so they can build the talent, use cases, and workflows needed to be ready when these systems come online.”
Libra builds on QuEra’s existing systems, including Aquila, a 256‑physical‑qubit device available on Amazon Braket since 2022, and Gemini, a neutral‑atom system with logical‑qubit capabilities co‑located with the ABCI‑Q supercomputer in Japan.
Fault‑tolerant quantum computing as a foundational compute modality
In its announcement, AWS describes quantum computing as a future pillar of its compute portfolio. AWS General Manager for Amazon Braket, Eric Kessler, wrote:
“At AWS, we view quantum computing as a foundational compute modality. In the fullness of time, we envision quantum processors becoming a natural part of the AWS compute portfolio, alongside CPUs, GPUs, and AI/ML accelerators. Another tool in the toolbox our customers can rely on to accelerate production workloads and tackle problems out of reach for traditional compute options today.”
Kessler added, in the QuEra release:
“We believe fault-tolerant quantum computing will become a foundational part of how customers solve their hardest computational problems on AWS. QuEra’s technology has demonstrated a clear path to that future. By bringing these capabilities to customers through Amazon Braket, they can combine QuEra’s fault-tolerant quantum processors with the scalable AWS HPC and AI services they already rely on.”
AWS highlights that since launching Amazon Braket in 2020, customers have used QuEra’s Aquila system for research in quantum reservoir computing, high‑energy physics simulations, and financial optimization. AWS notes that neutral‑atom quantum computing has “matured rapidly,” citing landmark experiments by QuEra and academic partners at Harvard and MIT demonstrating key ingredients for large‑scale quantum error correction.
Technical foundations and peer‑reviewed validation
QuEra stresses that “every building block of the Libra architecture has been validated in peer-reviewed research.” Eight peer‑reviewed papers in Nature and Physical Review Letters have demonstrated:
- Logical qubits
- Below‑threshold error correction
- Transversal logical operations
- Fast decoding for real‑time error correction
- Sustained operation of thousands of qubits with continuous atom reloading
- Resource‑efficient error‑correcting codes
AWS similarly cites experiments such as:
- A fault-tolerant neutral-atom architecture for universal quantum computation
- Logical quantum processor based on reconfigurable atom arrays
- Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation
- Continuous operation of a coherent 3,000-qubit system
AWS states that these results “provide a clear technical pathway to large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers that coherently operate hundreds of logical qubits.”
Statements from leadership
QuEra’s Chief Science Officer, Prof. Mikhail Lukin, said:
“This is a very special moment – for the first time, a dream of realizing useful, fault-tolerant quantum computers is in our direct line of sight. Designed to enable quantum computation at an unprecedented scale, these systems should realize truly unique applications. We are proud to significantly expand our collaboration with AWS to bring these unique capabilities to the broader community of scientific users.”
QuEra’s Chief Commercial Officer, Yuval Boger, warned:
“Waiting until 2028 to build a quantum strategy is a competitive risk. The algorithms that will harness fault-tolerant systems at this scale might not yet exist. Given that Libra will be available on the cloud in 2028 with a one-in-a-million error rate, the organizations that start co-developing now will be operational on day one, not catching up.”
Industry analyst Bob Sorensen, Chief Analyst for Quantum Computing at Hyperion Research, added:
“QuEra’s plan to deliver fault-tolerant systems in 2028 represents a significant inflection point for the quantum computing industry. QuEra’s approach entails publishing every milestone, validating through peer review, and now offering concrete QC end user engagement paths. This disciplined and visible strategy is what aspiring QC end users in HPC centers and related government programs want to see before committing substantial resources to an emerging technology.”
AWS notes that early fault‑tolerant devices “will have limited capacity” and encourages interested customers to contact amazon-braket-customers@amazon.com.
Technical advantages of neutral‑atom systems
AWS highlights two key advantages of Rydberg‑atom systems:
- Scalability to 10,000–100,000+ qubits within a single module
- Dynamic reconfigurability via optical tweezers enabling effective all‑to‑all connectivity
These features support more resource‑efficient fault‑tolerant algorithms and provide “a clear technical pathway to the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum processors.”
AWS also emphasizes that quantum computing is not a winner‑take‑all technology. It notes complementary strengths of superconducting cat‑qubits (developed at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing) and Rydberg‑atom qubits.
