IQM makes its first expansion, establishes German subsidiary

The company's first expansion move outside of Finland intends to harness local quantum expertise to create a co-design hub that tightens the interaction between quantum hardware and quantum software development, a company press release states. “Munich was the obvious location for the new facility. For Germany and Bavaria, in particular, building a quantum computer is a strategic national priority. That commitment has produced an ecosystem of quantum innovation, with stakeholders from industry, academia and the investor community collectively focused on advancing Europe’s quantum leadership,” said IQM’s CEO, Dr. Jan Goetz, in the press release. The idea, according to IQM, is to optimize quantum chips at the earliest development stage to meet gate design, connectivity, gate fidelity, and other technical imperatives for scalable quantum computing. A model that the company claims to allow close collaboration with its current and future software partners throughout Europe to accelerate the development of useful quantum solutions for specialized applications. Prof. Enrique Solano will lead the Munich operation as CEO of IQM Germany. He joins IQM from his leading positions in two quantum centers in Bilbao, Spain, and Shanghai, China. “The hardware-software co-design model is different and exciting and brings a design-think mindset to quantum computing. It lets us develop and optimize next-generation chip architectures for specific applications and implement quantum computing algorithms for industries with entrenched operations in Germany and throughout Europe. For example, financial models and predictions for car manufacturers, as well as models for drug design, material design, aerodynamics, nuclear reactions, biological systems, intelligent devices, use-cases for smart cities, and much more. I’m thrilled to join the company,” said Prof. Solano in the press release. At present, IQM´s team drives the business in four core areas: fabrication, scalable electronics, software, and systems integration. The new team in Munich will extend these efforts to design special-purpose processors for near-term algorithms, while also focusing on IP development.