IonQ reports low-delay error decoding in quantum computer simulations

IonQ says its error-correction decoder kept pace with simulated quantum workloads involving up to 408 logical qubits and more than 31.5 million operations while running on one conventional CPU. The company reported that decoding added 0.02% processing delay under the tested noise conditions. The decoder continuously processes error data so a quantum processor would not have to pause while a separate computer catches up. That could reduce the classical computing capacity needed for larger fault-tolerant machines. The tests used simulated benchmark circuits and noise models; IonQ has not shown the complete workload running on hardware with 408 logical qubits.