FEBRUARY 5, 2026. Tokyo, Japan and Ulm, Germany.
Yaqumo Inc., the Japanese quantum computing company building a pioneering integrated neutral-atom quantum computer in Japan, has decided to adopt QC Design’s Plaquette software platform to accelerate the development of its fault-tolerant quantum computers. Plaquette is a quantum design-automation platform that enables hardware teams to simulate, analyze, and optimize fault-tolerant architectures in the presence of over 20 real-world hardware imperfections. This collaboration positions Yaqumo to rigorously evaluate and refine its neutral-atom qubit architectures as the company scales toward scalable fault-tolerant quantum computers.
Yaqumo’s neutral-atom approach offers important advantages for scalable quantum computing: the number of qubits can be scaled from thousands to tens of thousands by increasing laser power, and long coherence times reduce errors during computation. Integrating Plaquette into Yaqumo’s R&D workflow provides the quantitative foundation needed to validate and optimize this architecture. The platform enables the Yaqumo team to model the full spectrum of hardware imperfections relevant to neutral-atom systems and to evaluate how these imperfections impact logical qubit performance across different error-correction codes, control schemes and decoding methods.
Kazuhiro Nakashoji, CEO and Founder of Yaqumo, said:
We’re excited to adopt Plaquette and partner with one of the strongest teams in fault tolerance at QC Design. Plaquette is accelerating our FTQC efforts by enabling us to model realistic hardware imperfections, compare codes and decoders quantitatively, and iterate on architecture and control strategies. This collaboration enhances the capabilities we have been developing internally, allowing us to design logical qubit demonstrations and architectures with significantly greater speed and efficiency.
Dr. Ish Dhand, co-founder and CEO of QC Design, said:
We’re excited to partner with Yaqumo as they advance one of the most promising approaches to scalable quantum computing. Yaqumo’s neutral-atom systems offer a compelling path forward: the ability to scale from thousands to tens of thousands of qubits by merely increasing laser power, combined with long coherence times that fundamentally reduce computational errors. As Japan accelerates its quantum computing ambitions, we’re proud to support Yaqumo’s journey toward building a pioneering integrated neutral-atom quantum computer in Japan.
This collaboration reflects the growing momentum in Japan’s quantum computing sector. Yaqumo, founded in April 2025 and spun out of Kyoto University’s Takahashi Laboratory and the Institute for Molecular Science’s Ohmori Laboratory, is developing quantum computing hardware as part of Japan’s national program. QC Design continues to accelerate the global quantum industry’s path to fault tolerance by partnering with leading hardware teams across all major qubit platforms.
About Yaqumo
Yaqumo Inc. is a Japanese quantum computing company pioneering Japan’s integrated neutral-atom quantum computer for real-world applications. Founded in April 2025 and spun out of Kyoto University’s Takahashi Laboratory and the Institute for Molecular Science’s Ohmori Laboratory, Yaqumo is developing a scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture based on neutral atoms. The company’s approach leverages the inherent scalability and long coherence times of neutral-atom systems to address the practical challenges of building large-scale quantum computers.
About QC Design
QC Design builds Plaquette, a design-automation platform for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Plaquette lets hardware teams simulate, analyze, and optimize architectures under realistic conditions, modeling 20+ hardware imperfections, well beyond typical open-source tools, and providing libraries of QEC codes and decoders. With deep expertise in fault-tolerance strategies and a suite of advanced tools, QC Design enables quantum hardware teams to design scalable quantum computers faster and at an order of magnitude lower cost than building and maintaining similar software in-house.
