Mark Jackson (Quantinuum): Why compilers matter as much as qubits

Key takeaways

• A well optimized compiler can cut gate counts and errors enough to rival gains from better hardware, so software stack quality is not a side issue to qubit count, it competes with it directly
• Customers evaluating quantum computing mostly want packaged, shrink-wrapped software rather than raw low level access to qubits and gates, which changes how vendors like Quantinuum prioritize their roadmap
• Recent quantum error correction results are treated as a genuine milestone in the conversation, not just incremental progress, and are discussed as a signal of where the field's timeline is heading
• Quantinuum's evangelist role involves translating between what the hardware and compiler stack can actually do today and what potential customers assume or hope it can do