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Infleqtion’s chip powers Japan’s first full quantum system

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August 24, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Infleqtion’s quantum processing unit is now powering “Shunkai,” Japan’s first operational full-stack neutral-atom quantum computer with an initial capacity of approximately 50 qubits and planned expansion to around 500. The collaboration represents a step beyond research and development for the country, supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s Quantum Moonshot program, for which Infleqtion was the sole foreign quantum partner, the company says. “This milestone marks a pivotal moment for Japan’s quantum ambitions and Infleqtion’s role in advancing production-ready quantum platforms,” says Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer at Infleqtion.

Shunkai System: Infleqtion’s Neutral Atom QPU Powers Japan’s Quantum Computer

Currently functioning with approximately 50 qubits, Shunkai is projected to expand to around 500 qubits as the project progresses, demonstrating increased computational capacity. The system’s development signifies a move toward operational quantum computing for Japan, validating the potential of neutral-atom architecture. The Ohmori Moonshot project, entering its next phase in April 2026, will concentrate on enhancing system integration, stability, and scalability, with a long-term goal of creating a high-performance, fault-tolerant quantum computer with up to 10,000 physical qubits.

The IMS team intends to make Shunkai accessible to external users, fostering the advancement of quantum error correction research and application development within academic and industrial settings. Infleqtion’s contribution extends beyond hardware; the company’s Superstaq quantum computing software platform is integral to the system’s functionality, delivering the programmability and fidelity control essential for advanced quantum systems, according to the company. This collaboration underscores Infleqtion’s role in delivering production-ready quantum platforms and solidifies Japan’s position in the rapidly evolving field of quantum technology.

This milestone marks a pivotal moment for Japan’s quantum ambitions as well as Infleqtion’s role in advancing production-ready quantum platforms at scale.

Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer at Infleqtion
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Avatar of Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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