memQ details how linking quantum computers with light will scale up processing

The challenge of scaling quantum computing may lie not in building bigger processors, but in connecting the ones already in existence. According to a new analysis from memQ, every qubit technology, superconducting, trapped ion, and others, is hampered by the escalating complexity of control wiring, cooling and crosstalk as qubit counts rise. “The path to a commercially useful quantum computer runs through the network, not through a bigger chip,” the company asserts in a recently published reference architecture. memQ is detailing how linking quantum processors with light, specifically through a quantum network interface controller at each processor and a central Entanglement Hub, offers a viable path toward achieving the millions of qubits needed for practical applications. Photon-mediated entanglement between quantum processors located in separate buildings has already been demonstrated, offering a potentially faster route to scalability than solely increasing qubit counts within a single processor. This milestone, achieved in 2025 by a group, involved running a quantum algorithm across two trapped-ion processors connected only by an optical link, marking the first demonstration of distributed quantum computation over a photonic link. The success hinges on the ability to reliably establish and maintain entanglement, a quantum connection, between distant qubits, a feat…