IBM announced today that it is building a first quantum data center in Europe. The shovel is intended for the German municipality of Ehningen.

IBM’s first-ever quantum data center will be built at its site in Ehningen, Germany. The American tech giant announced this today. The plant is scheduled to go into operation as early as next year.

Quantum Europe

Several quantum computers are available, each with its own 100-qubit, utility-scale quantum processor. Both companies and research institutes and governments can go there. The data center will also serve as the European cloud environment for IBM Quantum.

With the construction of this European quantum data center, IBM already complies with the future European Union rules, according to which data processed within the Union must actually be stored on European territory.

partners and initiatives

IBM Quantum’s European network currently includes more than 60 companies and organizations, including Bosch, CERN of the Large Hadron Collider, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, Vodafone Group, Daimler and T-Systems. Through the cloud, these companies are using quantum hardware and software to explore the possibilities of quantum computing in areas such as finance, energy, sustainability and new materials.

Currently, IBM Quantum and the open source software Qiskit® are used by students in more than 100 courses at several European universities. IBM also sponsors hackathons, workshops and digital courses, which the company says have helped more than a million students advance their knowledge in quantum computing.

Important step

After the establishment in New York, this is only the second quantum data center for IBM worldwide. According to Gregor Pillen, CEO of IBM Germany, this is the next evolutionary step for quantum computing and there is a lot of momentum now.

Jay Gambetta, the physicist who has been working on quantum computers for IBM for more than a decade, now takes the next step, which is breaking down the different stacks to see what can be processed by normal computers and what can be processed by quantum computers. In his opinion, the first step was raising awareness, now IBM can begin to deal with practical issues.