Atom Computing and Nu Quantum have announced a strategic partnership to develop networking technologies designed to scale quantum computers beyond the limits of individual quantum processing units (QPUs) and toward utility-scale systems.

The companies said they will explore integrating Atom Computing's neutral-atom quantum computers with Nu Quantum's photonic networking hardware. The collaboration aims to connect multiple processors into larger distributed architectures.

The partnership reflects a growing shift within the quantum computing industry toward distributed architectures that connect multiple processors into larger systems, rather than relying solely on increasingly large monolithic QPUs.

Speaking at The Economist's Commercialising Quantum event in London, Nu Quantum founder and CEO Carmen Palacios-Berraquero said utility-scale quantum systems will require both scale-up and scale-out approaches, mirroring the evolution of classical data centers.

Drawing parallels with classical computing, she described scale-up as building larger, more powerful processors, while scale-out involves connecting multiple processors to create larger systems.

"The history of computing, every single paradigm shift we've had, has come from the collaboration of both making better, more efficient, more powerful processors, and being able to integrate them together to make these machines, like data centers, that are many orders of magnitude more powerful than a single processor would ever be," Palacios-Berraquero said.

While most quantum hardware companies have traditionally focused on building larger processors with more qubits, Palacios-Berraquero said that several leading vendors, including IBM, Rigetti, and IQM, have now incorporated networking into their long-term roadmaps.

The goal of quantum networking is to create distributed quantum computers by establishing entanglement links between qubits located in different processors. Rather than treating individual QPUs as standalone systems, networking could enable them to operate as parts of a larger computational fabric.

"What we do is create those same entanglement links that exist inside the QPU now between qubits in different QPUs," Palacios-Berraquero said. "If you zoom out, you simply have a larger surface of entangled qubits."

Unlike conventional networks, which move data packets between systems, quantum networking transmits quantum states encoded in individual photons. The challenge is preserving the quantum properties needed to create entanglement between distant processors.

The approach could influence how future quantum infrastructure is deployed in data centers. Instead of relying on a single large quantum processor, operators could deploy multiple interconnected QPUs linked through dedicated quantum networking hardware.

The shift could ultimately reshape how quantum computing infrastructure is deployed, moving from standalone processors toward interconnected quantum systems built using principles already familiar in modern data centers.