Quantum Firms Forge Path to Practical Error-Free Computing

PARIS & SINGAPORE – January 19, 2026 – In a significant move to accelerate the dawn of practical quantum computing, software pioneer Horizon Quantum Computing and hardware innovator Alice & Bob have announced a strategic collaboration. The partnership aims to streamline the development of applications for fault-tolerant quantum computers, tackling one of the most formidable challenges standing between the technology's promise and its real-world application.

By integrating their respective technologies, the Singapore-based Horizon and Paris-based Alice & Bob are creating a powerful, full-stack solution that connects high-level software development directly with a cutting-edge hardware architecture. This alliance is poised to shorten the path to reliable, large-scale quantum computation, a milestone the entire industry is racing to achieve.

A Full-Stack Approach to Fault Tolerance

The core of the collaboration involves the integration of Alice & Bob’s hardware emulators into Triple Alpha, Horizon Quantum’s powerful integrated development environment. This move will provide software developers with a direct line to designing and testing algorithms on a virtual version of Alice & Bob’s unique quantum processing units (QPUs).

This integration creates a comprehensive compilation pipeline, allowing quantum programs to be written at a high level of abstraction before being automatically optimized for the specific characteristics of the target hardware. The goal is to create a seamless workflow, from algorithm conception to deployment on physical machines, which is a critical step in preparing for the launch of Alice & Bob’s upcoming hardware.

“Building a complete quantum software stack requires careful integration of algorithms, error correction, and compilation,” said Dr. Théau Peronnin, CEO of Alice & Bob. “We believe our partnership with Horizon Quantum is an essential step in ensuring we take a rigorous, research-driven approach to these challenges.”

By making the emulators available now, the partnership allows the developer community to begin experimenting with quantum error correction protocols and building fault-tolerant applications before the physical hardware is widely available. This proactive approach aims to cultivate a ready ecosystem of software and developers, ensuring that when the hardware matures, impactful applications are prepared to run on it.

The Hardware Advantage: Taming Errors with Cat Qubits

At the heart of Alice & Bob’s strategy is a novel type of qubit known as a “cat qubit.” Unlike conventional qubits that are highly susceptible to two types of errors—bit-flips and phase-flips—cat qubits are designed with inherent, autonomous protection against bit-flips. This exponentially suppresses one of the major sources of error at the physical level, a breakthrough that drastically simplifies the requirements for quantum error correction.

By eliminating the need to constantly correct for bit-flips, the error correction code only needs to focus on the remaining phase-flip errors. This effectively reduces a complex two-dimensional problem to a more manageable one-dimensional one. The company claims this approach could reduce the number of physical qubits required to build a useful, large-scale quantum computer by a factor of up to 200 compared to competing methods that rely on surface codes.

This dramatic reduction in hardware overhead is a crucial differentiator. While many competing systems require millions of physical qubits to create a handful of stable, logical qubits, Alice & Bob's architecture promises a much more efficient path to fault tolerance. This hardware advantage is a key reason why a sophisticated software partner like Horizon Quantum is essential to unlock its full potential.

Empowering Developers with Advanced Software

On the other side of the partnership is Horizon Quantum’s Triple Alpha, a platform designed to abstract away the immense complexity of programming quantum hardware. It allows developers to write quantum programs using more familiar, Turing-complete languages that support classical control flow like loops and conditional statements, a significant step beyond purely circuit-based programming models.

One of Triple Alpha’s most powerful features is its ability to perform detailed resource analysis. When compiling a program for a specific backend, like Alice & Bob’s emulators, it can track and help optimize critical metrics such as qubit count, gate count, and memory usage. This functionality is vital for maximizing performance on resource-constrained quantum devices and is a central element of the new collaboration.

“Realising the full potential of quantum computing will require building systems that are fault-tolerant,” said Dr. Joe Fitzsimons, CEO of Horizon Quantum. “By bringing together Horizon Quantum’s expertise in quantum programming and compilation with Alice & Bob's expertise in fault-tolerant hardware architectures, I believe this partnership will help drive progress towards practical fault-tolerant quantum computing.”

This focus on developer accessibility is critical for moving quantum computing from niche academic labs into mainstream enterprise use. By simplifying the programming process and providing powerful optimization tools, the partnership aims to empower a new generation of developers to build the quantum applications of the future.

Navigating a Competitive Quantum Landscape

The collaboration between Horizon Quantum and Alice & Bob does not exist in a vacuum. It represents a strategic maneuver in a fiercely competitive global race to build a useful quantum computer. Industry giants like IBM, Google, and Quantinuum are pursuing their own paths to fault tolerance, using different hardware modalities such as standard superconducting qubits and trapped ions.

However, this partnership's tightly integrated, full-stack approach focused on a specialized, error-protected qubit architecture presents a compelling alternative. Instead of waiting for hardware to mature and then building software for it, the two companies are co-designing the path forward, ensuring that software capabilities and hardware advancements evolve in lockstep.

This strategy is further bolstered by Horizon Quantum's recent business moves, including its planned business combination with dMY Squared Technology Group. Such financial maneuvers suggest the company is positioning itself for significant growth and has the resources to execute on its long-term vision. Together, the two companies aim to accelerate the entire field, with a shared goal of creating a future where complex quantum algorithms are accessible, reliable, and capable of delivering a true quantum advantage across industries.