Germany inaugurates IBMs first European quantum data centre [Video]

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday inaugurated US firm IBM’s first quantum data centre in Europe, saying Germany aims to be at the forefront of the revolutionary technology.

The centre — IBM’s first outside the United States, and located in Ehningen, near Stuttgart — will allow dozens of European companies and research institutes to gain access to its quantum systems.

While still in its early stages, scientists believe that super-fast quantum computing will eventually be able to power innovation in a range of fields, from smarter encryption software to artificial intelligence.

Scholz hailed the data centre as “good news for Germany”, adding that Europe’s biggest economy needs such “key technologies”.

“It is precisely these future fields where we have to be at the forefront, where we must not be dependent on others,” he said.

Quantum research is seen as a critical field and both the United States and China have been …