Quantum computing firm Rigetti has launched the Novera QPU, the company’s first commercially available quantum processing unit (QPU).

Built at Rigetti’s Fab-1 facility in Fremont, California, the Novera QPU includes a 9-qubit chip with turntable couplers for fast 2-qubit operations and a 5-qubit chip for testing single-qubit operations.

The Novera QPU is based on Rigetti’s fourth-generation Ankaa-class architecture, which was first unveiled in August 2023.

Rigetti has previously delivered a 9-qubit QPU to Fermilab, a particle-physics laboratory in the US, earlier this year.

“Our new Novera QPU enables hands-on access to our most innovative quantum computing technology. With the same architecture as our 84-qubit Ankaa systems, researchers working with the Novera QPU can have a head start in pursuing their quantum computing work and drive the industry forward,” said Rigetti CEO, Dr. Subodh Kulkarni.

The Novera QPU implements universal, gate-based quantum computing and can be used by quantum software and algorithm developers to test different scenarios, including hybrid quantum algorithms; characterization, calibration, and error mitigation; and quantum error correction (QEC) experiments.

The Novera QPU can be integrated with commercially available dilution refrigerators and control systems and is available to order directly from Rigetti with a starting price of $900,000.

In other recent quantum news:

• IonQ has announced the public availability of IonQ Forte on Amazon Braket, a managed quantum computing service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). First unveiled in 2022, IonQ Forte delivers 29 algorithmic qubits (#AQ) and is the third IonQ system to join Amazon Braket, following IonQ Harmony and IonQ Aria.
• The Munich Quantum Valley (MVQ) and the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities have joined forces to acquire a quantum computer for the university’s Quantum Integration Centre. The 20-qubit ion trap machine was developed by the Austrian-based start-up Alpine Quantum Technologies and will be made available to the seven-member organizations of MQV, primarily for conducting research in system software.