Key Points
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation and Denmark’s government are investing €80 million to build a powerful new quantum computer.
- The project is a collaboration between Microsoft, which provides the software, and Atom Computing, which builds the hardware.
- The computer aims to solve complex problems in fields such as medicine and chemistry that are currently beyond the capabilities of existing computers.
- It will launch with 50 logical qubits, a number considered the threshold for achieving “quantum advantage.”
The foundation behind the drug giant Novo Nordisk is teaming up with Denmark’s state investment fund to build what they claim will be the world’s most powerful quantum computer. The major project aims to revolutionize fields such as drug discovery and materials science by solving problems that are currently impossible for today’s computers.
Quantum computers hold the potential to perform calculations that would take current systems millions of years to complete. This could unlock huge discoveries in medicine and chemistry.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation and Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) are investing 80 million euros (about $93 million) into the project, called QuNorth. They are partnering with major tech companies to make it happen. U.S.-based Atom Computing will build the computer, while Microsoft will provide the essential software.
Construction on the new machine, named “Magne” after Thor’s super-strong son in Norse mythology, will start this fall and is expected to be ready by the end of next year.
The computer will start with 50 “logical qubits,” which are highly stable units of quantum information. According to Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, Jason Zander, achieving 50 logical qubits is the key milestone for “true quantum advantage.” At that point, the computer can start solving problems that are simply out of reach for even the best classical supercomputers.
