Czechia to Host its First Quantum Computer

Czechia’s IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center has entered into a hosting agreement with the European LUMI-Q consortium to install a quantum computer at the center in Ostrava. Scheduled to come online in 2024, the program aims to provide European researchers with access to quantum computing capabilities. 

The project’s total investment cost has been capped at $7.6 million. Half of the funding for the project comes from the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). The member countries of the LUMI-Q consortium will contribute the remaining half of the financing.

The LUMI-Q consortium comprises nine European countries: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. It aims to deliver a superconducting qubit-based quantum computer with a minimum of 12 qubits, providing academic and industrial users with quantum computing capabilities.

The consortium aims to integrate the quantum computer with the EuroHPC petascale supercomputer Karolina in Ostrava. Plans are underway to connect the quantum computer to other EuroHPC supercomputers, notably those hosted by other LUMI-Q consortium members. The plans include LUMI, the most powerful supercomputer in Europe, and the forthcoming supercomputer Helios, located in Krakow, Poland.  

Related:Europe’s Fastest Supercomputer Adds Quantum Power

“Through the LUMI-Q resources, European users will get access to a new type of computational infrastructure that combines some of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe with the latest in European quantum computing technology,” said Mikael Johansson, manager for quantum technologies at CSC – IT Center for Science, a LUMI-Q consortium partner.

“Through quantum-accelerated high-performance computing, research and development can take almost unimaginable leaps of innovation. We are excited to be part of and committed to this development.”