A new quantum computer named VLQ was officially inaugurated at the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center in the Czech Republic in the presence of prominent Czech and European representatives. The VLQ computer is the second quantum computer launched in Europe under EuroHPC JU. Its acquisition and operation are jointly managed by the pan-European LUMI-Q consortium, which comprises thirteen partners from eight countries.
The VLQ quantum computer has 24 physical qubits in a star-shaped topology. This architecture is intended to increase the efficiency of quantum computations by minimizing the number of swap operations. The system, supplied by IQM Quantum Computers, was acquired at a total cost of approximately €5 million ($5.9 million USD), half of which was funded by EuroHPC JU. To operate, the qubits are kept at an extremely low temperature of 0.01 Kelvin. The system is connected to the Karolina supercomputer, enabling combined classical and quantum computations.
The VLQ quantum computer will serve a broad spectrum of European users, including academic institutions, industrial companies, and the public sector. It will support research in areas such as quantum machine learning, drug and vaccine development, new material design, and transport optimization. The acquisition of this system, and its integration into the European high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, is intended to reinforce European technological sovereignty and support research and innovation across the continent.
Read the full announcement from IT4Innovations here, the CSC newsroom here, and the IT4Innovations infrastructure page here.
September 23, 2025
