The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has inaugurated PIAST-Q in Poznań, Poland, marking the first operational deployment of a EuroHPC quantum computer and the first EuroHPC infrastructure located in Poland. PIAST-Q is a laser-based trapped-ion quantum computer, supplied by AQT | Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH (AQT) of Innsbruck, Austria, and hosted and operated by the Poznańskie Centrum Superkomputerowo-Sieciowe (PCSS) in Poland. The system offers a performance of 20 physical qubits and was notably delivered and deployed several months ahead of its contractual timeline.
PIAST-Q is designed with features including high fidelity universal quantum gates for minimizing computational errors, long coherence times to enable greater circuit depths, and all-to-all qubit connectivity for increased stability and programmable multi-qubit quantum gates. This system will be integrated with high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, initially coupled with the ALTAIR supercomputer, and subsequently with the PIAST-AI supercomputer, providing European users access to a hybrid classical-quantum architecture. The system is engineered to operate at room temperature and consumes less than two kilowatts of electrical power, eliminating the need for specialized cooling or extensive energy infrastructure.
This inauguration represents a significant step in building a European quantum computing infrastructure, with PIAST-Q expected to offer compute resources to European end-users by the end of the year for hybrid quantum-classical use cases such as quantum optimization, chemistry, materials science, and machine learning. Co-funded with a total acquisition cost of €12.28 million ($14.37 million USD), this project is part of a broader EuroHPC JU initiative to procure and deploy eight quantum computers across Europe, encompassing various modalities including neutral atoms, trapped ions, superconducting circuits, photonics, and adiabatic systems. This strategic deployment aims to provide European end-users with a diverse and complementary portfolio of quantum computing modalities, positioning Europe in the field of quantum technology.
Read the full announcement here.
June 26, 2025
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