IBM has announced plans to establish its first quantum data center in Europe, scheduled to be operational in 2024. The data center will support multiple IBM quantum computing systems, each equipped with "utility-scale quantum processors," resulting in a total computing capacity of over 100 qubits.
The data center will be located in IBM's campus in Ehningen, Germany, and will serve as IBM Quantum's European cloud region, becoming the second center of its kind following the opening of the first quantum data center and quantum cloud region in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 2019.
Jay Gambetta, an IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum, stated that with the advent of utility-scale quantum processors, there has been a significant increase in research interest in cloud-based quantum computing. The IBM Quantum data center in Europe aims to provide a new choice for advanced quantum computer users in the region.
Currently, the IBM Quantum Network has over 60 corporate organizations as members, enabling them to access quantum hardware and software through the cloud. Some notable members include the German industrial giant Bosch, the German particle physics laboratory Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
In May, during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, IBM announced a ten-year, $100 million project in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and the University of Chicago. The project aims to develop a next-generation quantum computing supercomputer composed of IBM Quantum System Two, with a computing capacity of up to 100,000 qubits. The goal is to tackle the most pressing problems that even state-of-the-art classical supercomputers may never be able to solve.
IBM plans to expand its partnerships in Tokyo and Chicago and include the Argonne National Laboratory and the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory as collaborators. The expertise and knowledge of these two institutions will contribute to the advancement of quantum computing in the race for quantum computing supremacy.