Once a land known for extraordinary violence (and amazing beards), Denmark will soon lay claim to a different sort of fame. The country will soon, in conjunction with Microsoft and the Denmark-based Novo Nordisk Foundation, host the world’s largest quantum computer.
Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund announced the joint investment in QuNorth, the title for the quantum computing project. R1.65 billion (€80 million) will be thrown at the project by the non-profit arm of pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.
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Though the project is known as QuNorth, the computer itself will be named Magne (or ‘mighty), after one of Thor’s sons. Initially, the computer will support 50 logical qubits. A qubit is the quantum equivalent of a standard computer’s bit, a unit of information. A logical qubit is a virtual unit made up of many different physical qubits.
Microsoft will handle the software for the project, something that will be done at the company’s largest quantum computing lab — which just happens to be in Denmark. A company called Atom Computing will take care of the computer’s physical construction, with the project slated to start later this year and conclude by the end of 2026.
When Magne is finished, it will be used for advanced calculations impossible for traditional computer systems. Advances in science, medicine, chemistry, and other complex fields are expected once it’s up and running. The chemistry and medicine aspects explain Novo Nordisk’s interest in the project. You might recognise them as the company behind Ozempic.
Microsoft’s Jason Zander, speaking to Reuters, said, “When the machine gets up to 100 (logical qubits), we can start doing science problems, get up to a couple 100s, we can start doing some chemistry and starting to answer things, and then when all the way up to 1,000, now you are solving everything.”
