IBM integrates Sydney researcher’s error-correction blueprint into 2029 quantum roadmap

IBM has integrated a Sydney physicist’s new method for correcting errors in quantum computers into its long-term plan as it pursues a large-scale, fault-tolerant machine by 2029. The approach, detailed last week in Nature Physics, was developed by Dr Dominic Williamson from the University of Sydney and IBM researcher Theodore Yoder.

Williamson completed the work while on a sabbatical with IBM’s Quantum Information Theory and Error Correction group in California. The paper outlines a framework the authors say may speed progress toward reliable quantum computing, a field where the tiniest disturbances can collapse quantum states and erase any computational advantage.

“Any unintended interaction with the environment can destroy the very quantum effects that give [quantum computers] their power,” Williamson said. Their approach applies gauge theory to quantum error correction, introducing extra degrees of freedom to track global properties without forcing individual qubits into definite local states.

“Gauge theory introduces additional degrees of freedom that track global properties without forcing the system into a definite local state,” Williamson said, adding that the construct provides local coordinates for a system while preserving physically significant global features.

“We took this idea, and have applied it to quantum computers, offering an efficient pathway to reduce errors while using up less precious computing power.” IBM has now integrated the method into its long-term plan to build what it describes as the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.

“We’re at a point where theory and experiment are beginning to align,” Williamson said. “The big question now is how to design quantum computers that can be scaled efficiently to solve useful problems. Our work provides a promising blueprint.” The advance adds to a series of Australian quantum milestones.

In early 2025, a University of Sydney error-correction breakthrough was used in Google’s quantum chip, Willow. Scientists from the University of Sydney also made a “major contribution” to Microsoft’s Majorana 1 quantum chip. In June 2025, a “showstopper” breakthrough was demonstrated in Sydney, with a scalable and more efficient chip shown to operate at temperatures just above absolute zero.

And in April 2024, the federal and Queensland governments announced plans to invest nearly $1 billion in US-based PsiQuantum for its attempt to build a utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane.