Oxford Ionics, a leader in trapped-ion quantum computing, has been awarded a contract alongside Infineon Technologies AG to build a cutting-edge portable quantum computer, MinIon, for the German cybersecurity agency, Cyberagentur. This contract is one of three awards for a project that has a total budget of €35M ($38.93M USD), which seeks to leverage quantum computing for national security and defense applications. The other two awards for the Cyberagentur project went to neQxt GmbH and a team from Quantum Brilliance and ParityQC.
MinIon, the first mobile variant of Oxford Ionics’ quantum computers, is designed to be compact, robust, and energy-efficient, enabling deployment in mobile defense scenarios. The first generation of the system will have 32 high-fidelity qubits with a second generation planned to have 64 qubits. The team plans to continue to scale the system to reach 256 qubits and ultimately to more than 1000 qubits. The system’s portability makes it ideal for national security operations where stationary data centers are unavailable, providing governments with enhanced computing power and cryptographic capabilities. It will be compact, energy-efficient, and robust so the computer can be easily transported and operate under changing conditions.
Oxford Ionics’ proprietary ‘Electronic Qubit Control’ technology and Infineon’s microfabrication expertise will ensure that MinIon delivers powerful computational performance in a small footprint. Infineon will provide the microfabrication of the large scale ion trap chips that Oxford Ionics will use to build the computer. This collaboration marks the latest in Oxford Ionics’ rapid technological advancements, following its previous work with the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre for a quantum computer named Quartet. Oxford Ionics has already delivered six quantum computers to customers.
For more information, you can access a press release provided by Oxford Ionics here and another press release from Infineon here. In addition, the Cyberagentur agency has issued a press release about the total project and it can be seen here.
September 18, 2024
