The EuroHPC JU has inaugurated its first quantum computer at the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) in Poland.

Dubbed PIAST-Q, the €12.28 million ($13.35m) laser-based trapped-ion quantum computer was delivered by Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT).

The system will be housed in two standard 19-inch data center racks and was developed in partnership with the University of Innsbruck, the university AQT spun out from. According to the company, the 20-qubit PIAST-Q has high fidelity universal quantum gates to help minimize computational errors and offers long coherence times to help provide greater circuit depths.

Additionally, the system’s all-to-all qubit connectivity provides greater stability and enables programmable multi-qubit quantum gates, AQT said.

Like all quantum computers being deployed by EuroHPC JU, PIAST-Q will be coupled with a high-performance computing (HPC) system, initially the ALTAIR supercomputer, also housed at PCSS, and later, the PIAST-AI supercomputer, set to be deployed in 2026.

The system will be made available to a wide range of European users, from the scientific community to industry and the public sector, the company said.

“Today’s inauguration of PIAST-Q is a major step in Europe’s leap into the quantum era,” said Anders Jensen, executive director of the EuroHPC JU. “This milestone not only marks the deployment of our first EuroHPC quantum computer, but also demonstrates our commitment to building a world-class, sovereign quantum computing ecosystem in Europe. With PIAST-Q, we are not just investing in technology, we are investing in European excellence.”

EuroHPC JU is a joint initiative between the EU, 34 European countries, and private partners to develop a supercomputing ecosystem in Europe.

In June 2023, the EuroHPC JU signed hosting agreements with six sites across Europe to host and operate EuroHPC quantum computers, including PIAST-Q.