Denmark taps Microsoft to build world’s most powerful quantum computer

Denmark is aiming to stake a bold claim in the global quantum race with plans to build the world’s most powerful quantum computer.

Backed by €80mn from EIFO (Denmark’s export and investment fund) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the new initiative — dubbed QuNorth — aims to deploy the Nordic region’s first “Level 2” quantum system.  

Microsoft and California-based Atom Computing will deliver the system, named Magne, after the mythological son of Thor. Microsoft will contribute its Azure Quantum software stack. Atom will provide hardware based on its “neutral atom” design.

Magne is expected to include around 50 logical qubits and more than 1,200 physical qubits. That would make it a contender for the most advanced quantum computer ever made. 

Atom Computing holds the record for the most physical qubits in a single system: 1180. Rival firm Quantinuum, meanwhile, leads on logical qubits, having demonstrated a record of ...