IBM announced plans to open its first Europe-based quantum data center to facilitate access to cutting-edge quantum computing for companies, research institutions, and government agencies.
The data center is expected to be operational in 2024, with multiple IBM quantum computing systems, each with utility scale quantum processors, i.e., those of more than 100 qubits.
The data center will be located at IBM's facility in Ehningen, Germany, and will serve as IBM Quantum's European cloud region. Users in Europe and elsewhere in the world will be able to provision services at the data center for their cloud-based quantum computing research and exploratory activity.
The data center is being designed to help clients continue to manage their European data regulation requirements, including processing all job data within EU borders. The facility will be IBM's second quantum data center and quantum cloud region, after Poughkeepsie, New York.
"Europe has some of the world's most advanced users of quantum computers, and interest is only accelerating with the era of utility scale quantum processors," said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum. "The planned quantum data center and associated cloud region will give European users a new option as they seek to tap the power of quantum computing in an effort to solve some of the world's most challenging problems."
The IBM Quantum Network currently has more than 60 organizations across Europe accessing quantum hardware and software via the cloud, including Bosch; Bundeswehr University; Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, including its technology subsidiary Euro-Information, and Targobank; Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY); E.ON; the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft; Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC); and, T-Systems.
These clients across Europe are exploring potential uses for quantum computing including material science, high energy physics, energy transition, sustainability, and financial applications.
The European cloud region is a key component in IBM's efforts to collaborate with leading European industry, academia, and government to advance quantum and build a quantum workforce in Europe.
IBM Quantum and the open source Qiskit software are used in over 100 university classes in Europe. One million learners in Europe have advanced their quantum skills through hackathons, workshops, and digital learning sponsored by IBM.
For more information about this news, visit www.ibm.com.