QCBRIEF
Tokyo optical quantum startup OptQC gets NTT's telecom grade supply chain behind a 2030 fault tolerant (error corrected) target, with a 10,000 qubit proof of concept in 2028 as the first checkpoint.
NTT took a strategic equity stake in Tokyo optical quantum startup OptQC on August 3, locking in a four-year roadmap aimed at a fault-tolerant, 1-million-qubit-class optical quantum computer by fiscal 2030. A 10,000-qubit proof-of-concept is planned for fiscal 2028.
The capital-and-business alliance escalates a research pact NTT and OptQC signed in November 2025. NTT will fold its IOWN optical-communications and data-center stack behind OptQC's continuous-variable photonic platform, covering component supply, system architecture, and enterprise co-creation through fiscal 2027 before the PoC phase (OptQC release; NTT release).
Optical quantum computers use light as the qubit carrier, which lets vendors borrow telecom-grade manufacturing and wavelength-division multiplexing (sending many signals down one fiber) to scale physical qubits. NTT's stack gives OptQC that supply chain.
A 10,000-qubit-class PoC in fiscal 2028 is the next honest checkpoint, because a fault-tolerant 1-million-qubit optical system has no precedent in any modality. The equity investment amount was not disclosed (Quantum Computing Report).