A quantum computer with more than 5,000 qubits has gone into operation at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The project is a cooperation between the Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC) and the Canadian hardware manufacturer D-Wave Systems, one of the leading providers of quantum computer systems based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
The new system is the company’s first quantum cloud-based system outside of North America. The so-called quantum annealer is integrated into the Jülich user infrastructure for quantum computing (JUNIQ), which gives scientists in Germany and Europe access to various quantum systems.
The opening ceremony took place in mid-January in the presence of Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.