D-Wave Systems announced the launch of the first Leap quantum cloud-based system outside North America at Forschungszentrum Jülich Supercomputing Centre. The offering provides access to the Advantage quantum system, which contains more than 5000 qubits and will be available to European users at Forschungszentrum Jülich immediately in the cloud via Leap. This marks the first-ever annealing quantum computer physically located in Europe.
“As businesses and research organizations identify mission-critical problems in need of quantum investment, the market opportunity for quantum computing grows faster than ever,” said Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave, in a statement. “This is particularly true in Europe, where we’re seeing an increasing number of enterprises, universities, and even government entities across the continent already begin to benefit from access to quantum technologies.”
It’s part of an initiative called JUNIQ, a user facility for open innovation that provides users with a unified quantum computing platform as a service and the associated competencies for user support and joint software development.
Wolfgang Marquardt, chair of the Research Center, said in a statement: “With JUNIQ, we provide users and developers with service-oriented access to our unique Jülich quantum computing ecosystem, which, due to its excellent technical equipment, but especially due to the bundling of our strong expertise in supercomputing and quantum technologies, offers the best conditions to rapidly advance the value-added use of quantum computers.”
“Quantum computing is already becoming a useful tool for the financial services industry, providing more efficiency and producing better outcomes compared to traditional technologies. Having streamlined and efficient access to quantum technology will produce significant value-creation opportunities for European organizations. That’s why the addition of an Advantage system here in Europe is so relevant,” said Gonzalo Gortazar, CEO of CaixaBank, in a statement.