Juha Vartiainen, IQM Co-Founder on Quantum Computing & Global Strategy

Why governments are buying quantum computers before quantum advantage arrives

IQM is betting that quantum computing is already a business, sold as on-premise hardware to governments that want sovereign computing. The machines work as accelerators beside supercomputers. Real advantage is still a couple of years out, so public institutions fund the build-out while private buyers prepare.

Takeaways

• Sovereignty-minded governments are IQM's core buyers. IQM has sold close to 30 systems and delivered close to 20, mostly to government-funded HPC centres and universities. Countries want to own their data, so on-premise machines are winning over cloud. A pipeline of about 10 systems runs roughly 10m each.
• Quantum computers are accelerators, not faster laptops. Like GPUs, they speed up specific problems. Superconducting systems link to supercomputers with latency under one millisecond, and IQM has integrated machines into more than 10 data centers. Pricing runs from about 1m for a research and education model to negotiated flagship packages.
• AI agents now calibrate the hardware. Through a collaboration with NVIDIA, IQM uses open source vision-language models that read calibration data and advise adjustments. A 20-qubit system was fully calibrated this way, which Vartiainen sees as removing the expert from the loop.
• Longer-lived qubits are the materials science frontier. Superconducting qubits behave like resonators that last about a millisecond, and IQM aims to extend that by removing material imperfections. Its standardised machines already run more than half a year without maintenance, and commercially manufactured chips could lower prices and raise quality.
• Encryption fears overshadow near-term value. The most common misunderstanding is that quantum computers will soon break all encryption, a far-future prospect. Security uses such as quantum keys for telecom operators exist today. The market grows about 30% a year, and leading companies expect advantage within a couple of years.
• Investors have caught up with quantum. Eight or nine years ago founders had to educate investors. Now they ask better questions and some funds employ quantum experts. IQM listed this summer via a SPAC, a route Vartiainen says carries reputational risk but rewards strong investor relations.

From lab group to listed company

1. Vartiainen earned a PhD under Mike Nakahara in 2005, then spent twelve years in standardization, space and healthcare R&D because quantum computing seemed too immature.
2. The cofounders registered IQM in 2018 and raised seed funding in 2019 with an academic-style team of about 20 PhDs.
3. COVID closed the offices about six months in, so a headhunter recruited top scientists remotely. First sales went to the Finnish government using COVID rescue money, then Germany, and later the US and Asia.