July 17, 2026
Let's look at the map....
Not including IQT emails, insidequantumtechnology.com, LinkedIn, Medium, and a smattering of podcast platforms, but on Substack alone, The Quantum Dragon is read and/or listened to in 41 US states and 85 countries, with the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, and then Germany rounding out the top 5. Thank you!
This week’s IQT News:
This week’s premium content:
This week’s Friends of The Quantum Dragon:
In this edition:
That’s probably not supposed to be the key takeaway of “The Quantum Computing Landscape in 2026: What It Means for Healthcare’s Future,” but I can’t say that the great State of Kansas appears on my timeline all that often. Or ever, for that matter. This link may require a LinkedIn account.
Leeor Mushin, Co-Founder / GP of Formation VC and Co-Founder of Project Eleven, tells the tale of how he and Finn Murphy met with Dolev Bluvstein and became first-round co-lead investors in Oratomic through Formation VC. The story both enlightened me and made me hungry. This link may require an X account.
Prof. Amit Hagar managed to weave together the rolling of dice, the walking of gold retrievers, the memories of teenagers, and something about a mother-in-law at a barbeque all into one article about Markovian and non-Markovian environments. That’s just masterful, right there.
This 9:02 video features clips from conversations with 18 all-stars from just his first year of podcasting. The thumbnail alone features Prof. Peter Shor of MIT, Prof. John Preskill of Caltech and Oratomic, Nobel Laureate Prof. John Martinis of UC Santa Barbara and Qolab, and Prof. Scott Aaronson of UT Austin.
Russ Fein’s “What and When is Q-Day?” includes the subtitle “The Government to the Rescue?” which somehow reminded me of one of President Ronald Reagan’s many famous quotes. As always, Mr. Fein included a history lesson in his article, although I assure you it’s not political.
There’s cryptography’s Alice and Bob, and there’s France-based quantum computer builder Alice & Bob, and now there’s the author duo Alice & Bob. Alice Flarend and Bob Hilborn’s pending second book is titled “Quantum Computing and Quantum Physics.” This link may require a LinkedIn account.

Surely you know by now that Yuval Boger’s “Quantum Bits” explains common terms such as superposition and entanglement, but it also explains terms that you couldn’t possibly hazard a guess as to their meaning. Terms like “Hamiltonian,” after all, are named after people and are not as descriptive as, say, “total energy.”
TGCC–GENCI is hosting “Orion,” a 100-qubit neutral atom quantum computer by Pasqal, and they’re willing to give you up to 100 hours of open access to it. The upside is that you can be in either Academia or Industry. The downside is that you have to be in the EU, which means it might not apply to you.
Thanks to Tom Bustamante for sharing this IBM Partner, which I have faithfully added to the Quantum Animal Registry. With at least one campus being at Columbia University, “Quantum Meow is a quantum research community connecting students, researchers, and startups at the intersection of quantum computing and AI.”
Quantum Source popped up on my radar, and I noticed the company is doing things a little differently. It’s using two modalities instead of one. It’s using 3D measurement-based quantum computing, which I’ve only been aware of in 2D. And it addresses one of my long-term concerns about large-scale quantum computers: physical footprint. I had questions about all this and more, and now you’ve got the answers.
Farai Mazhandu of the Africa Quantum Consortium wrote this article for HKA seemingly to make the point that the market for post-quantum cryptography is preceding that for quantum computing. About halfway down, we get a geopolitical point about PQC migration that doesn’t get enough attention.
Dr. Pranav Gokhale begins to answer a Thinking On Paper podcast question with something that would seem to be from Infleqtion’s marketing department, but if you keep listening for just a few more seconds, the classical analogy he follows that up with makes a really interesting point.
As a general rule, if there’s a timelapse video of anyone building a quantum computer, I share it. That said, this 35-second clip of IQM’s 20-superconducting-qubit “Pathfinder” Radiance system being assembled at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was taken at a bad angle and gave me whiplash. This link may require an X account.
I spoke with Jason Lynch, CEO of Equal1, about the actual size of the Bell-1 silicon spin quantum computer, when we’ll see a breakthrough in qubit counts, quantum networking the devices together, shrinking the system from 22U to 6U, power consumption, democratization, and more.
One of the things that we don’t talk about enough in quantum is the creativity we often find with 404 error pages. I’m thinking about dedicating a page to it.
Dr. Pete Shadbolt provides a guided tour, though it is spliced together with a sit-down interview, unnecessary side commentary, and some thick hype for good measure. But if you show off your tech, I’m morally obligated to share it, so here ya go. This link may require an X account.
When I see an article titled “One Million Qubits Is Table Stakes,” I expect to read a poker analogy. Sadly, there isn’t one. Including the phrase “a seat at the table” just doesn’t cut it. Therefore, I encourage the author to edit the piece and try to make a decent article legendary.
This is great. I’m not even going to tease anything about it; just click on this and read it. You’re welcome. This link may require a LinkedIn account.
Laurent Prost is getting ready to give a talk about how being a product manager in quantum computing is not all that different from being in real estate. If a recording surfaces anywhere, it’s virtually guaranteed to end up in this newsletter. Curious minds want to know. This link may require a LinkedIn account.
As the 2nd least qualified person in quantum, I certainly don’t want to start a debate over time travel, Many Worlds, or any scientific or pseudoscientific theory. That said, this video, which I accidentally discovered today, is vulgar. It’s inappropriate. And it’s hilarious. I can’t not share it.
July 15, 2026
Commercialization
Recent White House actions focus heavily on accelerating the commercialization of quantum technologies to maintain U.S. leadership. President Trump signed two...
July 15, 2026
I spoke with Jason Lynch, CEO of Equal1, about the actual size of the Bell-1 silicon spin quantum computer, when we’ll see a breakthrough in qubit counts, quantum networking the...
July 14, 2026
As data and communication security come under growing pressure, from both quantum computers and increasingly powerful classical technologies, information security is emerging as...
July 14, 2026
The Quantum Dragon welcomes QuintessenceLabs as a Gold Sponsor of Q+AI 2026 (3.0): Uncovering the Coming Wave of Quantum + AI, which will be held October 25-27, 2026, in New York...
July 13, 2026
Traditional reporting brought to you by the most trusted dragon in the world, IQT Sunday Edition delivers a straightforward, authoritative summary of national and international...
July 10, 2026
Thanks to Sarah Schupp for sharing IEEE Spectrum’s article “This Device Takes Photographs With a Single Atom: What seems like a fun physics experiment could be a quantum computing...
July 8, 2026
Today's newsletter discusses the Core Quantum Capabilities required by Quantum Chemicals and Quantum Life Science.
Related News Alert: today's (July 8) announcement by SandBoxAQ...
July 8, 2026
The Quantum Dragon worries about the future. Cryptographically relevant quantum computers are coming and, let’s face it, we’re not prepared for that. The market is splitting...