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Sebastian Hassinger, host of The New Quantum Era podcast and author of a new book of the same name, said in an interview with The Quantum Insider that neutral atom platforms currently lead the qubit modality race. He framed the lead as provisional, and discussed his path from IBM and AWS quantum roles to independent consulting in early 2026.
Sebastian Hassinger, author of the new book The New Quantum Era and a former quantum computing professional at IBM and AWS, said in a published interview that neutral atom qubits currently lead the race among quantum computing modalities — but he characterized that lead as temporary. Speaking with Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer of neutral-atom company QuEra Computing, in an interview published by The Quantum Insider on September 26, 2026, Hassinger explained his modality forecast and the thinking behind his book aimed at non-physicists.
Hassinger told Boger that he has worked in quantum computing for nearly a decade, first with IBM Quantum and then with AWS, before going independent at the beginning of 2026 and founding a company called The New Quantum Era, which he described as “sort of a grab bag of all of the projects that I’m working on.” The company’s name carries over from the podcast he co-founded roughly three years ago with a friend, Kevin, who has a mathematics background but was outside the quantum industry.
The podcast, Hassinger said, was “really an excuse to get researchers on to record an interview” and have them explain their work in conceptual terms to listeners who, like the hosts, are not physicists. That body of interviews accumulated into the material for his book, which he described as “the book that I wish I had found when I first started working in quantum,” covering the history of quantum information science, how the various qubit modalities developed, and the conceptual basics of how quantum computing works and what it is expected to do.
Notably, Boger’s employer, QuEra Computing, builds neutral-atom quantum computers — the modality Hassinger’s forecast places in the lead. Boger introduced himself in the conversation as QuEra’s chief commercial officer with five years in the quantum industry, after roles at software company Classiq. Hassinger’s own introduction to quantum computing came at a 2017 IBM Think conference at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he said presentations on the then-upcoming 53-qubit machine “sounded like science fiction” and left him understanding only a fraction of the material, an experience he said motivated his later work making the field accessible.
Why a Neutral-Atom Lead Matters
The question of which qubit modality leads the field has direct consequences for investment, hiring, and technology roadmaps. Neutral atom platforms, which use individually trapped atoms manipulated with lasers, have gained visibility through large qubit-count demonstrations, and Hassinger’s assessment adds an experienced industry voice — one with nearly a decade inside two of the largest corporate quantum programs — to that debate. At the same time, the interview’s format carries an inherent tension: Boger’s employer, QuEra, is itself a neutral-atom hardware company, and he opened the conversation by describing QuEra as making “the world’s best quantum computer.” Hassinger’s forecast should be read as informed opinion rather than settled technical consensus.
The emphasis on “for now” in his assessment also matters. If the modality lead is provisional, as Hassinger suggests, then competing approaches such as superconducting qubits, trapped ions, and photonic systems remain contenders, and readers tracking the industry should not treat any single platform’s current advantage as permanent.
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From IBM and AWS to Independent
Hassinger’s career arc frames his credibility on the modality question. He encountered quantum computing in 2017 at IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center during presentations about the 53-qubit system IBM launched the following year. He initially helped IBM with open source strategy around the recently open-sourced Qiskit framework, then worked at AWS, accumulating close to ten years in the field before going independent in early 2026.
The interview itself was a crossover episode, with Hassinger and Boger appearing on each other’s podcasts simultaneously. Boger has published a book of his own, Quantum Bits, the Comic Book Guide to Quantum Computing, making the conversation a comparison of two recent efforts to explain quantum computing to general audiences. Neither host holds a PhD in physics, a point both joked about during the discussion — Hassinger noted Boger’s graduate degree in physics gave him “a head start.”
“The book that I wish I had found when I first started working in quantum… initially it was an extremely steep learning curve and I would have loved to have more of a background of the history of how quantum information science came about.”
— Sebastian Hassinger
Claims Versus the Transcript Record
The headline claim that neutral atoms lead the qubit race is Hassinger’s forecast and opinion, not a benchmarked result, and the published transcript excerpt does not include his full technical reasoning for it — the detail may appear in portions of the conversation not reproduced in the source material. The word “for now” signals that he himself views the lead as contingent on current conditions rather than durable.
Boger’s statement that QuEra makes “the world’s best quantum computer” is a company marketing claim by a commercial officer of that company, not an independent assessment, and no third-party verification is offered in the interview. Which modality actually leads depends on the metric chosen — qubit count, gate fidelity, error correction progress, or application performance — and the excerpt does not specify which Hassinger prioritized.
The Book Launch and Modality Verdicts
Hassinger’s book, The New Quantum Era, is now available, and the crossover episode is being released on both his and Boger’s podcasts, giving listeners access to the full modality discussion beyond the published transcript. For the industry question at the center of the piece, the coming months and years will test Hassinger’s “for now” caveat: neutral-atom developers including QuEra are pushing toward larger, error-corrected systems while superconducting, trapped-ion, and photonic rivals pursue competing roadmaps. Readers can watch for independent benchmarking efforts and technical milestones, rather than executive statements, to judge whether the neutral-atom lead widens or erodes.
Key Questions
Who is Sebastian Hassinger?
An independent quantum computing consultant who worked at IBM Quantum and then AWS for nearly a decade before founding his own company, The New Quantum Era, in early 2026. He hosts the podcast of the same name and has written a book introducing quantum computing to non-physicists.
What did he say about neutral atoms?
His forecast, as summarized by The Quantum Insider’s headline, is that neutral atoms lead the qubit race “for now” — meaning he sees them as the leading modality currently, but expects that advantage could be temporary. This is his analytical opinion, not a measured benchmark result.
Why is the interviewer’s employer relevant?
Yuval Boger is chief commercial officer of QuEra Computing, a company that builds neutral-atom quantum computers — the same modality Hassinger places in the lead. The interview remains informative, but readers should weigh that both parties have visibility into, or stakes in, the neutral-atom ecosystem.
What is The New Quantum Era book about?
According to Hassinger, it covers the history of quantum information science, how the different qubit modalities developed, and the conceptual basics of quantum computing and its hoped-for applications — the book he says he wished existed when he entered the field and faced “an extremely steep learning curve.”
Is one qubit type definitively the best?
No. The answer depends on the metric — qubit count, error rates, scalability, or performance on applications — and no modality has conclusively won. Hassinger’s own phrasing, “for now,” reflects the widely held view that the modality landscape remains unsettled.
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