Why 2026 is a strategy year, not just a science year.

You often hear the phrase “things happen in threes.” From my perspective, three things happened at once in 2026.

Image source: Brian Lenahan/Midjourney

1. Hardware crossed from “interesting” to “capability-building.”

Error correction is no longer a slide. Logical-qubit counts are real and climbing (QuEra reported 96 logical qubits; Quantinuum 48). IBM is explicitly targeting first examples of quantum advantage in 2026 and a large fault-tolerant machine by 2029. Vendor roadmaps now cluster around 2029–2031 for early fault-tolerant systems. That is close enough that waiting for “the computer” is a strategy, not prudence.

2. Enterprises are experimenting, not operationalizing.

IQM / The Quantum Insider’s State of Quantum 2026 found 89% of surveyed organizations have hands-on quantum activity, but only about 13% have any production use (10% limited, 3% scaled). McKinsey calls this a commercial tipping point: 300+ large companies are already collaborating with quantum vendors, and first movers can lock IP and talent that later entrants will struggle to match.

3. The defensive clock is now a calendar, not a forecast.

Q-Day is still uncertain. Migration is not. The U.S. issued Executive Order 14412 in June 2026: high-value / high-impact federal systems must move key establishment to post-quantum cryptography by 31 December 2030 and signatures by 31 December 2031. Agency PQC plans are due in late 2026. G7 guidance also points at 2030. Forescout reported ~90% of systems still unprepared. Harvest-now, decrypt-later means long-lived data is already at risk. For banks, governments, and critical infrastructure, quantum strategy in 2026 is mostly crypto inventory, vendor contracts, and crypto-agility—not buying qubits. McKinsey’s updated figure is up to about $2.7 trillion of economic value by 2035. That number is not a 2026 P&L line. It is a reason to build internal capability now: hybrid optimization and simulation, chemistry/materials pilots, and a workforce that can evaluate vendors without being captured by them.

Summary

The honest frame for 2026: narrow utility is arriving; broad utility is not; cryptographic disruption is a procurement and governance problem this decade. Organizations that treat quantum as a lab tour will fall behind organizations that treat it as a two-track program—defend the stack, explore hybrid value.

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Brian Lenahan is founder and chair of the Quantum Strategy Institute, author of seven Amazon published books on quantum technologies and artificial intelligence and a Substack Top 50 Rising in Technology. Brian’s focus on the practical side of technology ensures you will get the guidance and inspiration you need to gain value from quantum now and into the future. Brian does not purport to be an expert in each field or subfield for which he provides science communication.

Brian’s books are available on Amazon. Quantum Strategy for Business course is available on the QURECA platform.

Copyright © 2026 Aquitaine Innovation Advisors

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I see a clear trajectory for quantum computing that moves well beyond the standalone laboratory machines of the early days. Quantum computers will not primarily operate as isolated systems. Instead, they will integrate into data centers side by side with high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Users—working from their desktops or through cloud interfaces—will selectively leverage CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs (quantum processing units) according to the specific demands of the problem and application. This hybrid, multimodal approach is already taking shape and aligns with the practical, business-oriented path I have emphasized for years.

Image source: Brian Lenahan/Midjourney

Why Standalone Quantum Falls Short

Quantum hardware excels at particular classes of problems—certain optimization tasks, molecular simulations, sampling from complex distributions—thanks to superposition and entanglement. Yet most real-world workloads also require extensive classical pre-processing, post-processing, orchestration, error mitigation, and data handling. Purely quantum execution remains constrained by noise, scale, and the need for classical support, especially in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) period and the transitional Quantum Frontier Era I have described.

In my Substack writing on the Quantum Frontier Era, I noted the heavy reliance during the NISQ years (roughly 2017 into the mid-2020s) on hybrid quantum-classical algorithms such as the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) and Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). These approaches deliberately partition work: quantum processors handle the parts where they offer advantage, while classical systems manage the rest. Treating quantum as a bolt-on or standalone resource misses this reality. As I wrote in “Quantum’s Rise of Architecture,” organizations that embed architectural thinking—evaluating how different modalities integrate into hybrid ecosystems—will pull ahead; those treating quantum as an isolated add-on will lag.

Integration into Data Centers Alongside HPC

The practical future places QPUs inside or tightly coupled to existing data-center and HPC environments. Classical CPUs provide general-purpose control and orchestration. GPUs accelerate parallel linear algebra, machine-learning components, and large-scale classical simulations that complement quantum output. QPUs act as specialized accelerators for the quantum-native kernels. Low-latency interconnects and unified software stacks (already emerging from major vendors) allow seamless hand-offs.

Image source: Brian Lenahan/Gemini Notebook

This mirrors how GPUs themselves evolved from graphics cards into core HPC accelerators. Quantum follows a similar path: co-located rather than remote and isolated. In my discussion of hybrid quantum platforms (including analysis of major platform announcements), the emphasis shifts toward the user side of the ecosystem—adopting quantum technologies within a hybrid classical–quantum world that already incorporates AI and HPC resources. Data-center operators gain efficiency by sharing power, cooling (where compatible), networking, and workload management systems rather than building separate quantum facilities for every use case.

Desktop Access: Choosing the Right Processor for the Job

From a user’s desktop or notebook, the experience becomes transparent. Software layers and cloud/HPC portals present a unified interface. The application or middleware routes sub-problems intelligently:

• Routine control flow, data preparation, and visualization stay on the CPU.

• Dense matrix operations, neural-network training/inference components, or classical simulation segments run on GPUs.

• Combinatorial optimization cores, quantum chemistry energy estimations, or sampling tasks offload to the QPU when advantage is expected.

I have referred to this selection of computing options for the right problems at the right time as multimodal computing fusion—drawing an analogy from logistics, where ocean, rail, truck, and last-mile modes each serve distinct needs. In the Quantum Frontier Era, the same principle applies: classical, accelerated classical, and quantum resources coexist, and the architecture chooses the best tool rather than forcing everything through one modality.

Examples from My Published Writing

In my book Quantum Boost, I focused on concrete business applications that are inherently hybrid. Portfolio optimization in finance, supply-chain routing, and drug-discovery molecular simulations all benefit from quantum kernels embedded in larger classical workflows. The book stresses practical use cases available even before full fault tolerance—exactly the scenarios where a desktop user or enterprise analyst would invoke a QPU for the hard combinatorial core while relying on classical resources for the surrounding pipeline. Waiting for a fully standalone, general-purpose quantum computer was never the strategy I advocated; preparing for hybrid value was.

My Substack pieces reinforce the point. Discussions of production-grade quantum computing examine the engineering realities required for reliable integration rather than isolated demos. Coverage of scaling and architecture repeatedly returns to hybrid ecosystems and the need for modalities that fit within broader classical infrastructures. The multimodal framing explicitly highlights choosing among available compute options according to problem characteristics—precisely the CPU/GPU/QPU decision model.

This vision is already visible in early deployments: quantum systems appearing inside HPC centers, software frameworks that treat QPUs as accelerators alongside GPUs, and enterprise roadmaps that prioritize hybrid workflows over pure quantum ones. Organizations that build quantum readiness around this integrated model—assessing which of their problems map to which processor type, developing hybrid algorithms, and partnering for data-center-compatible access—will extract value sooner and more sustainably.

Quantum computing’s future is collaborative and integrated, not solitary. QPUs will sit beside CPUs and GPUs in the data centers that power modern computation, and users will call upon each resource from their everyday environments according to the demands of the application. That is the practical, strategically sound path forward—one I have consistently outlined in books and in ongoing analysis of the evolving quantum landscape.

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Brian Lenahan is founder and chair of the Quantum Strategy Institute, author of seven Amazon published books on quantum technologies and artificial intelligence and a Substack Top 50 Rising in Technology. Brian’s focus on the practical side of technology ensures you will get the guidance and inspiration you need to gain value from quantum now and into the future. Brian does not purport to be an expert in each field or subfield for which he provides science communication.

Brian’s books are available on Amazon. Quantum Strategy for Business course is available on the QURECA platform.

Copyright © 2026 Aquitaine Innovation Advisors

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As a longtime observer of quantum technologies moving from lab to field, I see Dirac Labs’ recent $1.8 million pre-seed raise as a timely step toward practical quantum navigation. The Madison-based company is developing diamond-based quantum sensors that measure Earth’s magnetic field with high precision, to deliver reliable positioning in underwater, underground, and other environments where GPS signals simply do not reach.

Image source: Brian Lenahan/Midjourney

Combined with real-time AI signal processing and sensor fusion, these devices are designed to plug directly into existing vehicle platforms—aircraft, submarines, autonomous systems—without requiring major redesigns, offering a resilient alternative for defence and commercial users alike.

NV Diamond Modality

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are atomic-scale point defects in the diamond crystal lattice that have become one of the most versatile platforms in quantum technology. They consist of a nitrogen atom substituting for a carbon atom, paired with an adjacent vacant lattice site (missing carbon atom). This creates a stable, optically addressable electronic spin system that operates at room temperature with long coherence times—making NV centers uniquely practical compared to many other quantum systems that require cryogenic cooling.

Atomic Structure

In the diamond lattice (a face-centered cubic arrangement of carbon atoms), the NV center has trigonal symmetry along one of the four possible crystallographic axes. The most useful form is the negatively charged state (six electrons total), which behaves as an S=1 spin system. Neutral and positive states also exist but are less commonly used for quantum applications. This structure can be engineered with high spatial precision, enabling both single-NV and dense ensemble devices.

NV properties enable the conversion of magnetic (or electric, thermal, or strain) fields into measurable shifts in microwave resonance frequencies or fluorescence intensity. NV centers form naturally in some diamonds but are typically engineered for controlled density and placement:

• Introduce nitrogen via ion implantation or during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth.

• Create vacancies by electron, ion, or laser irradiation.

• Anneal at temperatures above ~700 °C so vacancies migrate and pair with nitrogen atoms.

Isotopically purified diamond and delta-doping techniques further improve coherence and enable near-surface or high-density ensembles suitable for scalable sensors.

Quantum Sensing and Magnetometry

NV centers excel as nanoscale sensors because their spin interacts with local electromagnetic fields, temperature, and strain while remaining optically readable under ambient conditions. In magnetometry:

• Continuous-wave or pulsed ODMR measures the resonance frequency shift to determine the magnetic field vector (using the four possible NV orientations).

• Sensitivities reach the picotesla or better range (depending on ensemble size, volume, and protocols), with spatial resolution down to the nanometer scale for single NVs.

Positioning, Navigation and Timing (Quantum PNT)

Applications

This capability is especially powerful for GPS-denied navigation: Earth’s magnetic field remains accessible underwater, underground, or in contested environments. Companies such as Dirac Labs leverage diamond-based NV sensors (combined with AI signal processing) for universal positioning systems that plug into existing platforms. Other applications include:

• Biomedical imaging and thermometry (biocompatible nanodiamonds).

• Nanoscale NMR and materials characterization.

• Scanning-probe microscopy of quantum materials.

• Emerging uses in defense, oceanography, and integrated circuit inspection.

Recent Advances

• Multiscale engineering for higher yield, charge-state control, and hybrid devices.

• Parallel readout of >100 individual NVs, entanglement-enhanced sensitivity, laser-threshold magnetometry achieving near-100% contrast, and fully integrated compact sensors.

• Fieldable systems for defense, deep-sea navigation, airborne magnetic mapping, and unshielded biomedical measurements (e.g., magnetocardiography).

Dirac Labs

What sets the Dirac Labs effort apart is its deliberate focus on manufacturability at scale. By engineering the sensors for compatibility with existing semiconductor foundries, Dirac Labs aims to overcome the cost and size barriers that have long limited quantum magnetometry to specialized, high-budget applications. Early non-dilutive support from programs such as the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, NOAA’s ocean enterprise accelerators, and Wisconsin’s entrepreneurship initiatives, alongside private backing from TitletownTech, Automotive Ventures, and others, has enabled prototype development and field trials. Founders Sanket Deshpande and Aishwarya Das, spinning the company out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, bring deep expertise in robust quantum systems and machine learning—precisely the combination needed to turn faint magnetic signals into dependable location data.

Scientific advisors, including experts with DARPA, XPRIZE, and university backgrounds, underscore the broader significance: quantum sensing can finally become deployable infrastructure rather than laboratory curiosity. In a world where an expanding share of exploration, mining, defense, and autonomous operations occurs beyond GPS reach, Dirac Labs is building a navigation layer that leverages a natural resource—Earth’s magnetic field—that grows stronger closer to the rock. The result, if successful, will close a critical gap toward truly universal positioning and open missions that remain impractical today.

Challenges remain around scaling manufacturing for low-cost, robust devices; maximizing photon collection efficiency; and mitigating environmental noise in real-world conditions. Nonetheless, NV centers stand out as a mature, room-temperature quantum technology already transitioning from laboratory demonstrations to practical sensors for navigation, science, and industry. Their combination of atomic precision, optical addressability, and environmental robustness continues to expand the frontiers of quantum sensing.

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Brian Lenahan is founder and chair of the Quantum Strategy Institute, author of seven Amazon published books on quantum technologies and artificial intelligence and a Substack Top 50 Rising in Technology. Brian’s focus on the practical side of technology ensures you will get the guidance and inspiration you need to gain value from quantum now and into the future. Brian does not purport to be an expert in each field or subfield for which he provides science communication.

Brian’s books are available on Amazon. Quantum Strategy for Business course is available on the QURECA platform.

Copyright © 2026 Aquitaine Innovation Advisors

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If you’re a business leader trying to explain the importance of and value of quantum technologies and getting started now, and you want to go beyond the Quantum’s Business substack of the same name, this explainer deck is for you. Take it to your next board, C-Suite or IT leadership meeting.

Only for paid subscribers of Quantum’s Business.

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Yet quantum tech won’t be a thing unless users and consumers emerge.

NOTE: At the end of this substack, I offer 5 paid subscriber options for countries to establish quantum user adoption targets.

First, let’s take a look at how certain countries have addressed this quantum metric.

Japan

Japan is the primary (and seemingly only) country with a prominent, specific national “user targets” goal for quantum technologies, as referenced by Alex Challans. In a LinkedIn post from June 2026 (after attending Q2B Tokyo), Challans highlighted Japan’s ambitious target: 10 million quantum users (often phrased as “10 million domestic users of quantum technologies” or “quantum technology users”).

Image source: Brian Lenahan/Midjourney

Japan’s Targets (from its 2022 “Vision of Quantum Future Society” strategy)

Japan’s plan to reach 10 million quantum technology (QT) users by 2030 is part of its Vision of Quantum Future Society (April 2022) and the Strategy of Quantum Future Industry Development (April 2023). These documents set three main 2030 goals:

• 10 million quantum technology users by 2030.

• ¥50 trillion (~$315–350 billion) in quantum-generated production value by 2030.

• Fostering quantum unicorns/startup growth.

This user-adoption goal stands out as unusually concrete and user-focused compared to most national quantum strategies, which typically emphasize R&D investment, hardware milestones (e.g., qubit counts), talent development, or economic value without specific “user” numbers. Japan aims to drive broad domestic adoption across industry, education, and potentially the public. The approach emphasizes broad adoption through hybrid quantum-classical systems, practical use cases, accessibility, education, and industry collaboration — rather than just hardware R&D. It draws an analogy to the internet’s growth, where ~10 million users marked the tipping point for explosive adoption.

Other Countries

No other major quantum nations have established comparable specific numerical user targets (e.g., “X million quantum users by YEAR”). Here’s a quick overview based on available strategies:

• United States, China, EU/UK, Germany, France, etc. — Focus on funding (often billions), hardware leadership, talent pipelines, commercialization, and economic impact projections (e.g., trillions in potential value globally). No public user-count goals.

• Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, etc. — Emphasize research excellence, ecosystems/hubs, and early adoption but without quantified user targets.

• Switzerland - FINMA (The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA) published a survey in July 2026 of 60 Swiss financial institutions. The findings were remarkable for this stage of the Quantum Frontier Era. Just 8% of the 60 Swiss financial institutions surveyed by FINMA have a concrete roadmap for becoming quantum-safe. Certainly quantum computing is a cybersecurity risk but it is the adoption numbers in the report that cause concern as well. 72% have not planned or implemented any quantum-related measures yet about two-thirds believe a quantum computer could break RSA-2048 in less than 24 hours within the next10 years. For those with a roadmap estimate it will take 4–5 years to migrate their critical systems and data to post-quantum cryptography. Yet FINMA expects board-approved PQC roadmaps by mid-2027; adding on 5 years would take the organization to 2032.

Japan’s approach is noted as uniquely bold in adoption-focused metrics. Initiatives like education programs (e.g., Quantum Kids) and industry partnerships (e.g., with KDDI, IQM, TOYO) directly support hitting that 10 million user mark. If new strategies emerge with similar user targets, they would likely be announced in national quantum roadmaps, but as of mid-2026 and based on my research, Japan leads uniquely in this area.

Key Pillars of the Strategy

Japan addresses barriers like limited use cases, skills gaps, high business risk, and access hurdles via three perspectives: Accessibility, Incubation, and Collaboration.

1. Accessibility: Make QT Easy to Use for Diverse Industries

   • Develop user-friendly environments, cloud platforms, testbeds, and hybrid systems (quantum + classical HPC/AI).

   • Create attractive use cases in priority sectors: materials/chemistry, finance, drug discovery/healthcare, energy, logistics, manufacturing, and semiconductors.

   • Expand shared infrastructure (e.g., G-QuAT center in Tsukuba with superconducting, neutral atom, and optical quantum computers) and cloud access for businesses and early adopters.

2. Incubation: Support Startups, New Businesses, and Innovation

   • Foster startups/unicorns with funding, pitch contests, idea contests, government-affiliated venture funds, and procurement preferences.

   • Build innovation hubs (e.g., at AIST, RIKEN, universities) for R&D, standardization, supply chains, and commercialization.

   • Reduce risks through shared equipment, co-creation projects, and performance benchmarks.

3. Collaboration: Industry-Academia-Government and International Partnerships

   • Public-private consortia like Q-STAR (led by Toshiba).

   • International MoUs and collaboration (e.g., with U.S. firms, EU partners).

   • Cross-sector co-creation to integrate QT into existing systems.

Human Resource Development and Education (Critical for User Growth)

• Broad training programs — Target not just specialists but “quantum natives,” business professionals, and the wider public via recurrent education, online courses, summer schools, internships, and integration with AI/materials curricula.

• Initiatives like Q-Leap’s Human Resource Development Program and university coalitions (e.g., with IBM, Keio, University of Tokyo) aim to train tens of thousands.

• Outreach via science museums, SNS, videos, and “evangelists/ambassadors” to raise awareness.

Major Supporting Programs

• Q-Leap (MEXT, 2018–2027) — Flagship R&D in quantum computers, sensing, and lasers + dedicated HR programs and a Quantum Academy.

• Moonshot Goal 6 (JST) — Fault-tolerant quantum computing breakthroughs.

• G-QuAT (METI/AIST) — New campus for practical applications and global business ecosystem.

• SIP (Society 5.0) and other projects — Focus on social challenges and expanding users.

Progress and Approach

Efforts include enterprise deployments (e.g., first enterprise quantum computer purchases), testbeds for real-world validation, and hybrid integration to deliver value in the NISQ era. The government invests heavily (hundreds of billions of yen overall) while encouraging private-sector demand and international tech inflows. Japan’s plan is pragmatic and adoption-oriented: build infrastructure and skills so that millions can use QT (via cloud, apps, or hybrid tools) without needing to be quantum experts. Progress is tracked through use-case creation, talent metrics, and industrial output. While ambitious, it builds on Japan’s strengths in precision engineering, materials, and public-private coordination.

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In this Quantum’s Business substack deck, we explore the transition into the Quantum Frontier Era, a period characterized by the shift from theoretical research to practical commercialization and national infrastructure. Central to this transition are two 2026 U.S. Executive Orders aimed at accelerating American leadership through enhanced cryptographic security and significant investments in quantum sensing and networking. Experts note that these directives establish concrete deadlines for federal agencies to adopt quantum-safe technologies while creating large-scale national testbeds for private-sector experimentation and emphasize that while the government has funded this field for decades, these new policies act as economic catalysts by securing supply chains and developing a specialized workforce. Ultimately, this era is a pivotal threshold where strategic public-private partnerships will determine the global leaders of the emerging quantum economy.

Hope you enjoy the deck and share with those in your business.

Image source: Brian Lenahan/NotebookLM

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Today’s deck describes how recent advancements in quantum computing and cryptography are currently outpacing the ability of governments to implement effective export controls. While technological breakthroughs in hardware and error correction occur rapidly, regulatory frameworks often struggle with bureaucratic inertia and the complexities of international coordination. To bridge this gap, authorities in the U.S., EU, and UK are adopting agile, performance-based rules and collaborative licensing exceptions for allied nations. However, critics warn that overly restrictive policies could inadvertently stifle global innovation, trigger a brain drain, or disrupt essential academic partnerships. Ultimately, maintaining a competitive edge requires a delicate balance between national security safeguards and the open nature of scientific research. Policymakers are encouraged to utilize flexible governance tools that can evolve alongside these high-velocity dual-use technologies.

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