Oxford Quantum Circuits Unveils Roadmap for 50,000 Logical Qubits
A leading superconducting quantum platform outlines its ambitious strategy to scale coherent qubit systems for financial, defense, and security sectors
The era of quantum experimentation is giving way to an era of measurable outcomes.
That was the striking assertion made by Gerald Mullally, interim chief executive of Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), who declared that the quantum industry has entered a new epoch—the logical era. This phase promises commercial value that the previous decade of "noisy" physical qubit development could not yet deliver. It is characterized by low-error, high-coherence qubits capable of supporting real-world enterprise applications.
"During the physical era, it wasn't actually always the case that as we scaled our systems, they actually increased in performance," Mullally said. “In many cases, they got worse rather than better.”
"We've now entered the logical era. Logical or error-corrected qubits are essential for coherent quantum operations. More importantly, real workloads are now at the forefront."
In this new context, OQC asserts that three pillars will define success: speed, quality, and scale. Mullally was explicit about the stakes: "Market leadership will belong to those who can master all three."
The company has committed to deploying logical qubits that reduce error and map physical to logical qubits with unprecedented efficiency.
"We have a one-to-one resource ratio where each logical qubit occupies the same space as each physical one. This dramatically reduces overhead and creates a clear path to commercially viable quantum computing," he explained.
While the promise of quantum advantage has often been defined in abstract terms, OQC is quantifying its ambition. Mullally said the logical era will deliver "tens, if not hundreds of billions in value."
Speed, fidelity, and architectural control
Gerald Mullally discussed the company's roadmap at the Commercializing Quantum Global 2025 conference, organized by The Economist, in London on May 13, 2025. In a session titled “Pioneering the Logical Era: From Breakthrough to Business Value,” he detailed OQC's architecture and strategic trajectory.
The company’s founding innovation, the Coaxmon—a superconducting qubit platform developed by Dr. Peter Leek—is central to its scaling efforts. Leek, who earned his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2006 and later held research positions at ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford, founded OQC in 2017 to commercialize innovations stemming from his group’s work on hybrid and superconducting circuit QED (quantum electrodynamics) systems.
"Our platform has enabled a series of firsts," Mullally noted, referencing milestones such as launching the UK’s first commercially available quantum computer and becoming the first company to integrate quantum hardware directly into commercial data centers.
Benchmarked at 25 nanoseconds for two-qubit gate speed and 99.8% fidelity, OQC claims industry-leading performance.
"This performance is 1,000 times faster than other modalities and sets a benchmark for the industry," Mullally emphasized.
Looking ahead, OQC Genesis—a system housing 16 logical qubits capable of running thousands of quantum operations—will be the launchpad for the company’s future. Genesis improves on its predecessor Toshik, which reached 32 physical qubits but operated at an error rate of 10^-2. With Genesis, OQC lowers the error rate to 10^-3 while maintaining a compact 15mm processor scale.
A ten-year roadmap to 50,000 qubits
The roadmap presented by OQC outlines a decade-long plan toward commercial quantum advantage through exponentially scaled logical qubit systems.
By 2028, the company expects to roll out OQC Titan, its first commercial-era system with 200 logical qubits. Titan will achieve an error rate 10^-6 and operate on a 100mm processor wafer. This system is engineered to meet the needs of finance, security, and defense for high-speed fraud detection, arbitrage, and vulnerability analysis.
By 2031, OQC will introduce Kronos, expanding capacity to 5,000 logical qubits and lowering the error rate to 10^-9. Its processor scale will double to 200mm, allowing for billions of operations in areas such as derivative pricing and portfolio risk modeling.
But the ultimate milestone comes in 2034 with the release of OQC Aion. Built on a 300mm wafer and engineered for trillions of quantum operations, Aion will scale to 50,000 logical qubits with an error rate of just 10^-12. At this level of performance, OQC envisions unlocking new classes of economic and scientific applications.
"This is not about presence. This is really about readiness," Mullally said.
"That readiness is grounded in three areas for OQC. Number one, we are sharply focused on developing optimized computing for the applications and the sectors that are going to see commercial advantage first. Number two, we have a market-leading architecture delivering speed, quality, and scale advantages today. And finally, we are building the infrastructure needed for adoption."
OQC believes its architecture and ability to increase processor size while reducing logical error rates set it apart from other global contenders.
"These aren't trade-offs. They're engineered at our core," Mullally said.
Usability and enterprise integration
Despite technological breakthroughs, Mullally was candid about broader industry obstacles.
"If quantum computing is not usable and accessible, it won't be commercially viable," he said.
Today, only a small percentage of enterprises have the in-house expertise to explore quantum. To address this, OQC is engineering its systems for seamless integration into enterprise workflows, especially in what Mullally called the "agentic era," where AI agents orchestrate complex processes autonomously.
"Quantum computing platforms can be and must be designed to integrate with them," he argued.
The accessibility challenge is clear: current systems are mostly confined to research environments. OQC has sought to counter this by embedding its systems in commercial data centers, allowing corporates to operate quantum hardware within secure infrastructures. Installations in London, Tokyo, and soon New York position the company at the intersection of technology and economic influence.
Strategic infrastructure and national readiness
As OQC moves forward, Mullally emphasized three priorities: developing optimized computing for early commercial applications, maturing its core architecture for logical scaling, and expanding infrastructure to support global deployment.
He presented these not only as business imperatives but as matters of national significance.
"This is more than just quantum systems," he said. What is being built by OQC and pioneering British quantum computing companies is the foundation of a sovereign infrastructure and the future of global advantage."
Partnerships with academia, industry stakeholders, and government will be key to achieving those ambitions. OQC's roadmap underscores quantum computing's technical specificity and geopolitical importance in the logical era.
As the race intensifies to move quantum out of the lab and into the data center, OQC positions itself as a frontrunner not just in innovation but also in execution. With defined metrics, a multi-stage roadmap, and operational systems already in place, the company has declared its intent to lead—and, crucially, to deliver.
"This is the fastest path to commercial advantage in the logical era," Mullally concluded.