WIREDGOV

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) recently (04 October 2022) announced the selection of six sites that will host the first European quantum computers: in Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Poland. They will be integrated on site into existing supercomputers, and will form a wide network across Europe. The total planned investment is over €100 million, half of which comes from the EU and the other half from the 17 countries participating in the EuroHPC JU. Academic researchers and the industry, no matter where in Europe they are located, will be able to access these six quantum computers based on state-of-the-art European technology.

The new quantum computers will also address the growing demand for quantum computing resources and potential new services from the European industry and academia. They will be capable of solving complex problems relating to areas such as health, climate-change, logistics, or energy usage in a matter of hours, rather than the current months and years needed by today's systems, all while consuming far less energy.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive-Vice President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, recently said:

“This is an example of a European project par excellence. With pooled resources and know-how we can take leadership in a field that is essential for the future of our digital society. This contributes to our fight against climate change. And it is an essential step of the vision of deploying in Europe a world-class supercomputing and quantum computing infrastructure accessible across the EU.”

The new quantum computers are expected to be available at the above six sites by the second half of 2023. They will support a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe:

• Much faster and efficient development of new medicines, with the creation of a ‘digital twin' of a human body upon which, for example, to conduct virtual drug trials.
• Solving complex logistic and scheduling problems to help companies save time and fuel.
• The development and testing in a virtual environment of new materials like polymers for aeroplanes, catalytic converters for cars, solar cells, or room-temperature superconductors that could store energy indefinitely.

These new quantum computers are a step towards helping us reach our Digital Decade goals of having our first computer with quantum acceleration by 2025, as well as being on the cutting edge of quantum capabilities by 2030.

This is a purely European initiative: these machines will consist entirely of European hardware and software, leveraging European technology developed under EU-funded quantum initiatives, national research programmes, and private investments.

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