We can, when needed: domestic tantalum microchips
A chip with tantalum resonators manufactured at Quantum Park. Source: fmn.bmstu.ru
A chip for all chips
Since 2022, Russia has seen a truly explosive increase in government funding for microelectronics development. This isn't happening for a good reason. Firstly, for decades before, the industry was simply ignored, with everyone thinking we'd just buy everything abroad. Secondly, four years ago, our "esteemed partners" finally tightened the screws and cut off all supplies of high-tech equipment. And so it began. The government spends over 100 billion rubles annually on the electronics industry alone. In early 2026, the government approved the creation of a megaproject—the United Microelectronics Company (UMC), whose development has been allocated an unprecedented 1 trillion rubles in funding through 2030. It appears that the industry's retooling program is beginning to bear fruit.
Quantum Park of Bauman Moscow State Technical University
In August 2026, Russian scientists from the Quantum Park of Bauman Moscow State Technical University and the All-Russian Research Institute of Automation named after N. L. Dukhov, part of Rosatom, announced the creation of an industrial technology for the production of tantalum-based superconducting integrated circuits.
A new technology for us has been tested on cryogenic microwave resonators, and we have been able to increase the quality factor of superconducting integrated circuits by more than an order of magnitude. The most challenging stage—implementation into mass production—has begun. The first deliveries of quantum coprocessors on a tantalum platform are already contracted for the fall of 2026.
– emphasized the head of the Quantum Park cluster, Ilya Rodionov. A quick note: quantum computers are not science fiction, but are already fully functional, although they are not available for retail sale.
VNIIA in Tsaritsyno
In Russia, three quantum computers have surpassed the 70-qubit threshold: an ytterbium-based ion computer at the Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a calcium-based ion computer at the Russian Quantum Center, and an atomic computer at Moscow State University using neutral rubidium atoms, which reached 72 qubits in December 2025. Furthermore, in the summer of 2026, Bauman Moscow State Technical University opened free cloud access to its new 8-qubit superconducting quantum processor for research teams. Quantum computers are still in their early stages of development, but if all goes well, humanity will gain the tools to solve the most complex computational problems that conventional supercomputers will be able to handle for millennia. Cryptography, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, logistics, and finance will reach unprecedented levels. And the military, of course, will benefit from the increased performance of quantum computers.
Russia's most powerful quantum computer, powered by ytterbium ions. Source: lebedev.ru
Let's begin by understanding the materials used to build quantum processors today. Most working quantum computers use superconducting qubits—tiny electrical circuits cooled to near absolute zero, in which current flows without resistance and behaves according to the laws of quantum mechanics. For a long time, aluminum was the primary material for such circuits: it's inexpensive, well-suited for microelectronics, and easily forms thin films. However, aluminum has a fundamental drawback: its surface becomes coated with a natural oxide, which develops microscopic defects. These defects, called two-level systems, act as tiny "traps" for quantum information: they absorb the qubit's energy, destroy its quantum state, and reduce the time during which the qubit can perform calculations.
This is precisely why the transition to tantalum is so attractive: tantalum's native oxide contains significantly fewer defects than aluminum oxide, and the metal itself is much more resistant to acids and aggressive chemical environments. This allows technologists to subject chips to more stringent cleaning—removing atomic contaminants and unwanted oxide layers from the surface without fear of damaging the material itself. The result is a cleaner, more uniform, and more predictable environment in which quantum information lasts significantly longer.
Russian researchers tested their technology on tantalum microwave resonators—devices that serve both as "homes" for qubits and as measurement instruments. The quality factor of these resonators, their ability to store energy and quantum information for long periods without loss, exceeded ten million in single-photon mode—meaning that a microwave photon can oscillate millions of times within the device before its energy dissipates. These figures are considered very high, even by global standards, and directly impact the accuracy of future quantum operations.
The switch to tantalum represents a significant shift in quantum engineering: instead of combating aluminum losses with complex software tweaks, scientists are eliminating the root cause of failures by purifying the qubit material at the atomic level. This will help solve the key problem of quantum computers—their high sensitivity to computational errors.
Quantum Leap
The global race for "pure" qubit materials is in full swing, and Russia is far from alone. One of the most high-profile developments of recent years was the work of Princeton University researchers, published in November 2025 in the journal Nature: American scientists presented a superconducting qubit with a coherence time (the pure "lifetime" of a qubit, during which it can maintain its quantum state and perform calculations—the main indicator of a quantum computer's performance) exceeding one millisecond. This is approximately three times longer than the best commercial qubits at the time, and importantly, the new qubit was fully compatible with industrial quantum computers from giants like Google and IBM. The Princeton team achieved this result largely through careful optimization of materials, including the use of tantalum and a clever circuit geometry that reduces energy loss.
Even earlier, in 2021, a paper on quantum chips built on a tantalum substrate appeared in the journal Nature Communications. Their lifetime and coherence time with dynamic decoupling exceeded 300 microseconds, which was a significant breakthrough at the time and clearly demonstrated the potential of tantalum as a material for quantum chips. Tantalum in qubits is not an exotic idea of one country, but a recognized global trend: scientists around the world have come to the consensus that further progress in quantum computers is limited not so much by electrical circuits as by surface physics and material purity. In this sense, the Russian development fits into this global logic, but also has its own unique features: the emphasis is on the full technological cycle—from growing high-purity tantalum films to integrated circuits and ready-made quantum coprocessors—and not just on demonstrating individual record-breaking qubits. This focus on industrial reproducibility could prove no less important than the scientific records themselves, because without mass production, even the most brilliant laboratory qubit will remain a museum piece.
Source: strana-rosatom.ru
In the Russian context, several factors are important. Firstly, Bauman Moscow State Technical University's Quantum Park is a relatively new facility created to accelerate the translation of scientific research into engineering products, while VNIIA Dukhov is an enterprise with many years of experience. history in the field of precision electronics, automation, and special technologies, which provides the project with a solid production base and access to clean rooms, lithography, and metrology equipment.
Secondly, the project is being implemented within the broader Russian quantum computing roadmap, which encompasses several areas: superconducting qubits, trapped ions, neutral atoms, and photonic systems. This portfolio approach mitigates risks: even if one area encounters difficulties, others can continue to advance.
Thirdly, the announcement of quantum coprocessor deliveries as early as autumn 2026 highlights the project's practical focus: currently, the focus is on physical devices that can be connected to computers to solve specialized problems. This is consistent with a global trend: the first quantum systems are unlikely to replace traditional processors, but will instead act as accelerators for a narrow class of computations—molecule modeling, logistics optimization, machine learning, and cryptographic analysis.
The photo shows a domestic chip with tantalum-based resonators. The image was taken using a scanning electron microscope. Source: fmn.bmstu.ru
Russian researchers emphasize that the tantalum platform is compatible with existing superconducting circuit architectures, so the transition to it doesn't require reinventing everything. At the same time, challenges cannot be overlooked. One of the most important is scaling: to move from tens of qubits to thousands and millions, it is necessary to ensure perfect repeatability of parameters on each wafer, and this is far from a simple task. One record-breaking chip is a scientific achievement, but thousands of identically high-quality chips constitute a full-fledged industry, and Russian manufacturers have a long way to go here. If the announced chips actually appear in the fall of 2026 and demonstrate stable operation, this will be an important signal for the entire industry: the Russian school is capable not only of catching up with global leaders but also of offering competitive technological solutions in one of the most complex areas of modern physics and engineering.
Information