Caltech and Oratomic publish a resource estimate claiming Shor's algorithm is possible with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits
A Caltech–Oratomic collaboration posted a paper titled 'Shor's algorithm is possible with as few as 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits,' describing an ultra-efficient neutral-atom error-correction architecture that reduces the per-logical-qubit physical overhead to roughly five qubits, a claimed >100× reduction versus prior mainstream estimates. The authors argue that useful cryptographically-relevant fault-tolerant machines could fall in the 10,000–20,000 physical-qubit range.
If the architecture's assumptions survive peer review, the resource-estimate revision compresses the Shor's cryptographic-break timeline dramatically — a score-7 'material: concrete advance with near-term consequence' call, staged below the score-9 anchor (first public demonstration of below-threshold logical qubit) because this is a theoretical resource estimate, not a demonstration.
Provides further quantitative support for accelerated PQC migration timelines that Google also signaled this week; may pressure NIST, ENISA, and sovereign security agencies to revise their Q-Day assumptions and migration-mandate deadlines.