In a leap forward for quantum tech, scientists have created a breakthrough quantum computer design that could make future machines 200 times faster than current supercomputers—while using 2,000 times less power. Developed by Canadian company Nord Quantique, the key lies in a revolutionary type of quantum bit, or qubit, with built-in error correction. That means fewer components, smaller systems, and dramatically lower energy use. The researchers say they’ll have a compact 1,000-qubit machine ready by 2031—small enough to fit in a data center.

Quantum computers process information using qubits, which are notoriously fragile and prone to error from even the tiniest environmental changes. Traditional quantum machines get around this by using clusters of physical qubits to protect a single logical qubit, but that makes them large and energy-intensive. Nord Quantique solved this by embedding error correction directly into each physical qubit using a technique called multimode encoding. Their design spreads quantum information across multiple “modes” of light in a tiny superconducting chamber cooled to near absolute zero. If one part glitches, the rest can recover the information.

This breakthrough means each physical qubit now acts as a full logical qubit. Their calculations show that a 1,000-qubit system could crack strong encryption keys in an hour using just 120 kilowatt-hours—compared to nine days and 280,000 kilowatt-hours on a supercomputer. That makes it far more feasible for real-world applications like secure data, AI, and scientific simulations. Nord Quantique aims to release a 100-qubit version by 2029 and fully scale by 2031.