Build a Quantum Computer: The 5 Things You Need

An episode of the Thinking On Paper podcast, hosted by Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson, titled "Build a Quantum Computer: The 5 Things You Need" was published on November 22, 2025 and runs 5 minutes.

November 22, 2025 ·5m · Thinking On Paper

Summary

What if someone handed you the recipe for a quantum computer?Coleman Collins of IonQ breaks down DiVincenzo's criteria—the five capabilities any system needs to be a quantum computer.Physicist David DiVincenzo created the checklist. Every major quantum architecture (superconducting circuits, trapped ions) follows it.The five requirements:1. A well-defined qubit (your basic unit of quantum information)2. Initialization (set every qubit to a known starting state reliably)3. Long coherence times (qubits stay stable long enough to compute without losing quantum state)4. Measurement (read each qubit's state at the end—ideally individually)5. Universal gate set (single-qubit control + entanglement = any computation you want)Mix them together. You have a quantum computer.We talk about:- Why these five criteria matter (the foundation of every quantum system)- What coherence means (how long quantum states survive)- Why measurement is harder than it sounds- How entanglement enables universal computation- Which quantum architectures excel at which criteria- Why trapped ions vs superconducting qubits make different tradeoffsThis is the foundation. Every major quantum company—IBM, Google, IonQ, Rigetti—is solving these five problems in different ways.Now you know what they're building toward.---Other ways to connect with us:⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: [email protected]

Episode Description