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The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU)
Press release15 October 2024European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking5 min read

Signature of the Procurement Contract for the EuroHPC Quantum Computer Located in Germany

The procurement contract of Euro-Q-Exa, the EuroHPC quantum computer to be located in Germany, has been signed by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and the company IQM Quantum Computers, the selected vendor.

a quantum computing's chandelier
EuroHPC JU

The Euro-Q-Exa system will be a digital quantum computer based on superconducting qubits and state-of-the-art entangling capabilities that will offer two separate systems: a 54 qubits system in the second half of 2025, and a 150-qubit system by the end of 2026.

The Euro-Q-Exa quantum computer will be available to a wide range of European users, from the scientific community to industry and the public sector. The upcoming quantum computing infrastructure will support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe, adding new capabilities to the European supercomputing infrastructure.

The system, which will be owned by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) will be hosted at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Germany and integrated into LRZ’s supercomputing systems, including SuperMUC-NG. The quantum system will be connected to the HPC network and integrated into the supercomputer architecture via a unified hybrid software environment and user experience.

The total cost of the two systems is EUR 25 million and will be co-funded by the EuroHPC JU, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.

The installation of the first system will start in 2025.

Background 

IQM Quantum Computers has been selected following the call for tender that was launched in November 2023.

In 2023, the EuroHPC JU signed hosting agreements with six sites across Europe to host and operate EuroHPC quantum computers: in Czechia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Poland.

In 2024, the EuroHPC JU has announced the signatures of the procurement contracts for the EuroQCS-Poland quantum computer, the LUMI-Q consortium’s quantum computer and Lucy, the EuroHPC Quantum Computer Located in France

The selection of six hosting entities followed the view of offering the widest possible variety of different European quantum computing platforms and hybrid classical-quantum architectures, giving Europe the opportunity to be at the forefront of this emerging field, and to provide European users with access to diverse and complementary quantum technologies. 

This initiative offers a novel interpretation of quantum computers as accelerator platforms in genuine HPC environments. The foreseen integration will require essential R&D developments towards a hybrid software stack managing both HPC and quantum computing (QC) workloads.  During the integration work, all Hosting Entities will collaborate closely with European Standardisation bodies. 

These six quantum computers come on top of two analogue quantum simulators procured under the EuroHPC JU project HPCQS and which are based on neutral atoms, supplied by the French company PASQAL. HPCQS aims to develop and coordinate a cloud-based European federated infrastructure, tightly integrating two quantum computers, each controlling 100-plus qubits in the Tier-0 HPC systems Joliot-Curie of GENCI and the JUWELS modular supercomputer at the Julich Supercomputing Centre (JSC). 

About EuroHPC JU 

The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity, created in 2018 and reviewed in 2021 by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173. This was recently amended in 2024 by means of Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732, with the mission to:   

  • develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the EU a world-leading federated, secure and hyper-connected supercomputing, quantum computing, service and data infrastructure ecosystem;   
  • support the development and uptake of demand-oriented and user-driven innovative and competitive supercomputing system based on a supply chain that will ensure components, technologies and knowledge limiting the risk of disruptions and the development of a wide range of applications optimised for these systems;   
  • widen the use of that supercomputing infrastructure to a large number of public and private users and support the development of key HPC skills for European science and industry.   
  • develop and operate AI Factories located around EuroHPC supercomputing facilities to support the growth of a highly competitive and innovative AI ecosystem in Europe. 

In order to equip Europe with a world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured nine supercomputers, located across Europe. Three of these EuroHPC supercomputers are now ranked among the world’s top 10 most powerful supercomputers: LUMI in Finland, Leonardo in Italy and MareNostrum 5 in Spain. 

No matter where in Europe they are located, European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from these EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls to advance science and support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe. 

About Leibniz Supercomputing Centre 

The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) proudly stands at the forefront of its field as a world-class IT service and computing user facility serving Munich’s top universities and colleges as well as research institutions in Bavaria, Germany and Europe. As an institute of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, LRZ has provided a robust, holistic IT infrastructure for its users throughout the scientific community for over sixty years. It offers the complete range of resources, services, consulting and support - from email, web servers and Internet access to virtual machines, cloud solutions, data storage and the Munich Scientific Network (MWN).

Home to SuperMUC-NG, LRZ is part of Germany’s Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS) and serves as part of the nation’s backbone for the advanced research and discovery possible through high-performance computing (HPC). In addition to current systems, LRZ’s Future Computing Group focuses on the evaluation of emerging Exascale-class architectures and technologies, development of highly scalable machine learning and artificial intelligence applications, and system integration of quantum acceleration with supercomputing systems. 

About IQM Quantum Computers 

IQM is a global leader in designing, building, and selling superconducting quantum computers. IQM provides both on-premises full-stack quantum computers and a cloud platform to access its computers anywhere in the world. IQM customers include the leading high-performance computing centres, research labs, universities and enterprises which have full access to IQM's software and hardware.  IQM has over 280 employees with offices in Espoo, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Palo Alto, Singapore and Warsaw.  

Details

Publication date
15 October 2024
Author
European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking