The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced on Friday that it has granted €35M to IQM Quantum Computers for the development and commercialisation of its quantum processors. The development follows IQM’s announcement in November of the opening of its first fabrication facility in Espoo, Finland.
The funding is part of the European Guarantee Fund’s venture debt product introduced to provide liquidity to small and medium-sized companies affected by the pandemic.
About EIB
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is a long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute toward EU policy goals.
Speaking on the development, EIB Vice-President Thomas Ostros, says, “As we consider quantum computing as a sector of strategic importance, we are glad to support the Finland-based company IQM. With our financing, we not only sustain and create jobs within a highly innovative industry, but we also place ourselves squarely behind technological know-how. Europe has a strong tradition of quantum research, and funding IQM ensures that the results of this research will be put into practice in real-world innovations.”
“Building the quantum computers of tomorrow — today”
Founded in 2018 by Jan Goetz, Juha Vartiainen, Kuan Yen Tan, and Mikko Mottonen, IQM builds scalable hardware for universal quantum computers, focusing on superconducting technology.
The company provides on-premises quantum computers for supercomputing data centres and research labs, and offers full access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers a quantum advantage through an application-specific, co-design approach.
As a spinoff of Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, IQM’s core technology builds upon decades of research from the world-renowned Quantum Computing and Devices (QCD) lab. This know-how is combined with the experience of renowned quantum computing experts from Bilbao, Munich, Zurich, Delft, and several other locations.
Additionally, IQM is building Finland’s first commercial 54-qubit quantum computer with VTT, and an IQM-led consortium (Q-Exa) is building a quantum computer in Germany. The computer will be integrated into an HPC supercomputer to create an accelerator for future scientific research. IQM has over 160 employees with offices in Paris, Bilbao, Munich and Espoo.
EIB President Werner Hoyer says, “Quantum computing is still at an early stage. However, it has the potential to revolutionise many sectors, from drug and vaccine development to cybersecurity. Given the scale of the potential impact, global competition in quantum computing is fierce. Ensuring that companies such as IQM are well-funded is key to positioning Europe as a technological leader worldwide.”
Capital utilisation
IQM says that the initial tranche of the EIB funds will be used for expanding the facility, accelerating material research and developing quantum processors.
IQM’s Chief Executive Jan Goetz says, “Today’s chips shortage has exposed just how dependent the world is on semiconductor manufacturers in Asia. Quantum processors give us an opportunity to learn from this and become self-reliant first, and a global provider for quantum chips in the future.”
“This EIB loan supports us in building more balanced and resilient quantum development in Europe. We are already working on the most advanced quantum technology in Europe and this loan will also help us create the next-generation European quantum ecosystem,” adds Goetz.
Recently, IQM announced its open-source processor design software, KQCircuits, the Q-Exa project for quantum acceleration for HPC centres, and the opening of the quantum fabrication facility. With this funding, the company says it will have full control over quantum processor development and strengthen its European leadership.
