Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Siegen-based startup eleQtron have inaugurated JION. The quantum computer, developed in North Rhine-Westphalia, will be made available to researchers and industry through the JUNIQ user infrastructure and will enable hybrid computations with Jülich’s supercomputers. Minister President Hendrik Wüst, MdL, and Minister of Science Ina Brandes, MdL, hailed JION as a technological milestone.

Inauguration Ceremony with Guests from the State Government

The ceremony at the Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC) of Forschungszentrum Jülich focused on this joint political, scientific, and technological breakthrough. Minister President Wüst and Minister Brandes underscored the importance of JION for North Rhine-Westphalia as a hub for research and industry. The inauguration was intended to highlight the close collaboration between politics, research, and industry. As a symbolic part of the ceremony, a computational operation on JION was demonstrated publicly for the first time.

JION—short for “Jülich trapped-ION quantum computer”—is a digital, gate-based ion-trap quantum computer. Its qubits consist of ionized ytterbium atoms, which are held in a vacuum by electromagnetic fields and precisely controlled for computations. Unlike superconducting systems, the quantum processor does not need to be operated at temperatures near absolute zero. To control the qubits, JION relies on MAGIC technology (“Magnetic Gradient Induced Coupling”), developed in Siegen. Microwaves and precisely generated variations in the magnetic field ensure that the qubits can be controlled individually and directly connected to one another. This simplifies control and may facilitate the construction of larger, more powerful quantum systems in the future.

From Project Launch to an Integrated System

JION is being implemented as part of the “Development Partnership for Ion-Trap Quantum Computers in North Rhine-Westphalia” (EPIQ) project. When the project launched in March 2024 in Siegen, the JSC and eleQtron announced that they would jointly develop a modular supercomputer consisting of a quantum module and several classical digital modules. The Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is funding the four-and-a-half-year partnership with approximately 21 million euros. EPIQ emerged from the “EIN Quantum NRW” network.

With today’s inauguration, this project has evolved into an operational system at Forschungszentrum Jülich. JION is expected to open up new perspectives for applications in science and industry, such as optimization tasks in logistics, transportation, and process engineering, as well as in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials research, and machine learning.

JUNIQ: Access and Hybrid Use

JION will be integrated into the Jülich User Infrastructure for Quantum Computing (JUNIQ), thereby becoming part of the Forschungszentrum Jülich’s modular supercomputer architecture. JUNIQ consolidates access to various quantum systems and connects them to the JSC’s high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Thanks to JUNIQ, certain computational operations can be specifically offloaded to quantum systems while using classical JSC supercomputers.

In the future, researchers and companies will be able to use JION to test hybrid HPC-quantum computing workflows and prepare applications. In this way, JUNIQ transforms the computer into more than just a demonstrator and strengthens Jülich’s position as a hub for integration, reference, and user applications. As part of EPIQ, JION will also offer services, support, and training for the scientific community and industry.

Next Step: Scaling and Industrial Application

During the inauguration ceremony, Minister President Hendrik Wüst presented the funding approval for SQALING (“Scalable Quantum Computing from NRW”). This independent development project by eleQtron is funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with up to approximately 25 million euros from EU funds via the NRW EFRE/JTF program. The goal is to further develop the ion trap technology developed in Siegen into scalable, chip-based quantum computing platforms that could eventually be used in industrial applications. While JION demonstrates what has already been built, SQALING represents the next step in development. Together, both projects are intended to help strengthen technological expertise and economic value creation in Germany.

The funding approval for the new Q-STAR.NRW project was also presented. The goal of Q-STAR.NRW is to procure and integrate a scalable semiconductor quantum computer into JUNIQ—to strengthen research, industrial collaborations, and structural transformation in the Rhineland Mining Region. The project, funded with up to approximately 35 million euros from structural funding for the Rhineland mining region under the Coal Regions Investment Act (InvKG) and from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, plans to integrate a system with up to 200 qubits. Like EPIQ and SQALING, Q-STAR.NRW strengthens North Rhine-Westphalia’s technological sovereignty, increases the international visibility of the Rhineland Mining Region as a high-tech hub, and establishes a high-performance innovation ecosystem for quantum computing, which is intended to enable long-term value creation, new industries, and sustainable employment in the region.

Video