EU Sets Sail for Large-Scale Quantum Computing

Stemming from the EU’s Quantum Flagship 10-year, $1.18 billion (€1 billion) research and development initiative program launched in 2018, 19 companies and research institutions have joined forces for the QLSI (Quantum Large Scale Integration with Silicon) project. Information technology and electronics research institutes will lead the consortium, which is intended to last four years and to create the foundation for the EU’s industrial-scale implementation of semiconductor quantum processors.

The project is pursuing four essential results: the fabrication and operation of 16-bit quantum processors based on industry-compatible semiconductor technology; demonstration of high-fidelity (99%) single- and two-bit quantum gates and read out and initialization with these devices in a laboratory environment; demonstration of a quantum computer prototype integrated with such a high-quality quantum processor in a semi-industrial environment (with up to 8 qubits available online), with online open access; and documentation of the requirements to address the important issue of scalability toward large systems greater than 1000 qubits.

Partners, which include institutions such as IMEC, Fraunhofer Institute, CNRS, the University of Konstanz, and Leibniz-Institut, have already realized a number of key advances in the field of quantum silicon technology. CEA-Leti, for one, demonstrated a qubit manufactured by mass-production, CMOS technology in 2016.