Spain’s commitment to quantum computers was consolidated at the end of October 2021. On that date, the Council of Ministers approved the start-up of the Quantum Spain project, an initiative that would initially have financial backing of 22 million euros with the purpose of starting the construction of a quantum computer of 20 qubits which will be housed in the BSC (Barcelona Supercomputing Center).
The next step was taken at the end of 2022 by CESGA (Galicia Supercomputing Center), an organization integrated into the University of Santiago that will have a quantum computer manufactured by Fujitsu before the end of 2023. It will cost 14 million euros. However, the Government announced a few hours ago that it will reinforce its commitment to quantum technologies with the aim of consolidating Spain’s leadership in the quantum computing ecosystem of southern Europe.
Up to 240 million euros to reinforce the role of Spain in quantum computing
Carme Artigas, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, has announced that the Government plans to invest up to 200 million euros in emerging companies committed to the development of quantum computing in Spain. In addition, it will allocate an additional 40 million euros to the training of people who want to consolidate their professional career in the field of quantum computers.
The quantum computer that will be installed at the BSC will reach 30 qubits in 2025
This announcement has not arrived at any time. Carme Artigas has taken advantage of the presentation of the quantum computer that will be delivered to the BSC to publicize the steps that the Government plans to take in order to promote the Quantum Spain plan. His strategy also involves devoting seven million euros to the acquisition and installation of various quantum simulators developed by HP, as well as another five million euros to programs that facilitate companies’ access to quantum technologies.
During his presentation, Artigas assured that all the components of the quantum computer that will be installed in the BSC are of European origin, and he has also anticipated that its fine-tuning will begin in May 2023. From that moment on, the hardware of this quantum equipment will be refined until reach 30 qubits in 2025. It doesn’t sound bad.
However, we are interested in putting this figure into perspective. IBM, which is one of the companies that has bet most strongly on quantum computers with superconducting qubits, already has its 433-qubit Osprey quantum processor ready. And by the end of 2023 it plans to have the Condor chip ready, which will agglutinate 1,121 qubits.
The capacity of the BSC quantum computer will not be comparable, at least initially, to that of the best quantum equipment available in other countries, but there is no doubt that it is good news that there is a public initiative designed to consolidate the role of Spain in the ecosystem of European quantum technologies.
Via: Europa Press
