The European Union has announced a new project to build its first quantum computer in three years' time, as part of a larger technology development push to catch up with the United States, China and Japan.
OpenSuperQ is short for Open Superconducting Quantum Computer, and it is planned to have up to 100 quantum bits (qubits) capacity that will be available for external users at a central site, EU promised.
A full computing stack with cryogenically cooled superconducting integrated circuits and surrounding technological infrastructure is to be developed along with software for user access and low-level control for the system.
The quantum computing system is designed to be all-purpose, but will target chemistry and materials science simulations, as well as optimisation and machine learning.
Ten academic and private enterprise partners in Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland will take part in OpenSuperQ with Saarland University coordinating the project.
It is part of a larger Future Emerging Technologies (FET) flagship initiative on quantum technologies that has received €1 billion from the European Commission for the next ten years.
A relatively modest €10.33 million of the FET money has been earmarked for the OpenSuperQ and the EU hopes it will be built within three years.
