This undated photo shows Europe's first 50-qubit superconducting quantum computer developed and launched by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and computer company IQM. Finland's leading research institute VTT and computer company IQM announced on Tuesday that they have developed and launched Europe's first 50-qubit superconducting quantum computer. The computer is located at premises of the state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre in Micronova in Espoo, southern Finland, and is open to researchers and companies through the VTT QX quantum computing service.(VTT/Handout via Xinhua)
HELSINKI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Finland's leading research institute VTT and computer company IQM announced on Tuesday that they have developed and launched Europe's first 50-qubit superconducting quantum computer.
The computer is located at premises of the state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre in Micronova in Espoo, southern Finland, and is open to researchers and companies through the VTT QX quantum computing service.
"With this quantum computer, we can develop applications and new algorithms for material modeling and simulation, optimization problems, and artificial intelligence," said Erja Turunen, VTT's executive vice president, in a press release.
IQM Quantum Computers' co-CEO and co-founder Jan Goetz disclosed that the 50-qubit system is a baseline for the IQM Radiance 54-qubit quantum computer.
Finland first announced its efforts in quantum computing development back in November 2020 with a total budget of 20.7 million euros (21.85 million U.S. dollars) from the Finnish government to develop a 50-qubit quantum computer.
The project was phased into three parts. The five-qubit quantum computer was completed in 2021. In the spring of 2022, it was connected to the Internet via the LUMI supercomputer of Finland's Scientific Computing Center, for the use of Finnish researchers and later also more widely for business users.
The 20-qubit computer was completed in 2023, and, in the third phase, it was upgraded to 50 qubits. ■
