DOHA, Qatar — Sovereign quantum computing has become a strategic priority for countries, some of whom are already investing in the quantum ecosystem and/or quantum hardware, even though quantum computing hardware and software stacks are still relatively immature.
In Denmark last month, QuNorth, the body set up to administer a sovereign quantum computer in the country, held its first user meeting, even though the computer isn’t due to stand up until the end of 2026. Magne, as the computer will be called, is funded by the Danish sovereign wealth fund EIFO and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Hardware will be provided by U.S. firm Atom Computing and software by Microsoft.
“They picked Atom Computing because neutral atom technology is probably the most advanced quantum modality at this point,” Jesper Kamp, regional director for Europe at Atom Computing, told EE Times at Web Summit Qatar.
Kamp said that while other modalities can compete at the qubit level, Atom thinks neutral atom is the most scalable.
“We have a roadmap towards at least 100,000 qubits at Atom Computer in the next four or five years,” Kamp said.
Similar to sovereign AI, countries want to retain control of their data and if possible, keep it within their borders, Kamp said. Placing a quantum computer in the EU, specifically in the Nordic region, means “it complies with EU [data privacy] regulations, and you could say, with Nordic values,” he said.
“A researcher has to feel comfortable putting his algorithms, data, and all these things in there and not see it disappear across the Atlantic or to some other place in the world all of a sudden,” Kamp said.
Atom, as a U.S. company, is subject to U.S. export control rules that restrict or prevent it from selling quantum computers to certain countries. This is a clear sign the U.S. government believes in the quantum advantage—quantum’s ability to do things classical computers can’t, Kamp said. Examples of problems in chemistry and material fields waiting to be solved by quantum include curing cancer and solving climate change.
“You’ll be able to create billion- or trillion-dollar industries [with quantum],” Kamp said. “That future may be 10 or 15 years away, but it’s getting closer because we’re at the point where we have scalable systems that are, if not completely fault-tolerant, then very close to becoming fault-tolerant.”
Engineers work on Phoenix, Atom Computing’s 100-qubit prototype system (Source: Atom Computing)
Countries wanting to build these trillion-dollar industries should begin with building a talent pipeline, Kamp said.
“You have to build the talent in the ecosystem,” he said. “Without the talent in the ecosystem, you have no use for quantum computing. So you have to build academia and education around it, create an environment where startups and scale-ups within quantum thrive, [whether that’s] hackathons, giving prize money for competitions, whatever it may be, that’s how you encourage grassroots startups.”
A first step towards a sovereign quantum ecosystem might be taking on one part of the stack at a time, Kamp said. Countries could look to become a part of the hardware value chain, even if they are not manufacturing every part of a quantum computer, and team up with other countries doing the same thing.
“As a country, you don’t need sovereignty of everything,” Kamp said. “You can have transatlantic co-operation, or regional, and work together. If you regulate your data properly, you can buy state-of-the-art hardware.”
Much of quantum computing’s value, like with other semiconductor fields, will be driven by software and algorithms, he added. One option for countries would be to focus on this layer of the stack and use cloud hardware, provided they can reach a compromise with their cloud quantum provider to keep data within appropriate country or region borders.
“But I also believe that for an ecosystem to truly thrive, you need the best, and that’s why I believe the Novo Nordisk Foundation and EIFO picked Atom [a U.S. company],” Kamp said. “Maybe in five or 10 years it will make sense to buy a European system, there’s definitely a lot of startups out there that are doing well and making good progress…it’s a balance of developing sovereign solutions, but making sure that researchers have the right tools available for their use cases, algorithms and applications.”
Europe in general needs to be less risk-averse and fund scale-ups in the sector to succeed, Kamp said, clubbing together with other European countries to fund the sector, if necessary.
It’s crucial not to wait until the technology is fully developed, he added.
“In five to 10 years, as long as you can program it, there will be nothing you can’t calculate,” he said. “That’s why it’s really important to learn how to use a quantum computer. A lot of actors have a tendency to say, well, why don’t I just wait until the technology is ready? But then you’re already two, three, four years too late. Because you haven’t built the ecosystem that actually knows how to use it.”
Techno-nationalism challenges
Australian quantum software company Q-CTRL (“Q-Control”) has its stack integrated into sovereign deployments at Riken and the Keiko Quantum Computing Center in Japan. Riken has several quantum systems of different types; Q-CTRL’s stack currently runs on IBM’s Quantum System Two, but soon it will also run on Riken’s Quantinuum hardware, Q-CTRL CEO Michael Biercuk told EE Times at Web Summit Qatar.
The company’s software stack, FireOpal, offers automated performance management and virtualization for all types of quantum computers, improving accuracy and efficiency. It also covers orchestration and virtualization at the higher levels.
The Q-CTRL and Riken teams pictured with IBM Quantum System Two in Kobe, Japan (Source: Q-CTRL)
Since quantum computing has the potential to be a lot more energy efficient than classical computing, countries who don’t have electrical power to spare for AI data centers may find more synergy with quantum technologies. However, if countries find benefits from sovereign quantum computers, they will naturally want to scale them, bringing power back into consideration, Biercuk said.
“I think it is naive when people say that quantum computers will fix [AI’s] energy consumption problems, because if I can make a problem a thousand times more energy efficient, I’m still going to want more of those machines,” he said. “I think there is a huge role for energy rich nations, whether it’s solar or fossil fuels or geothermal or whatever, to play a major role as we move from today’s early quantum computers to large scale deployment.”
Scaling quantum deployments will require a level of maturity that includes autonomous operation of the computers, technology companies like Q-CTRL can provide, Biercuk said.
“Sovereign interest in quantum technologies is so important,” he said. “Because this is a fast-emerging bit of technology and as we’ve already seen with AI, there are countries that are already left behind. We can see [quantum] coming down the track, and investing early is smart.”
While we haven’t reached quantum advantage yet, applications like quantum sensing are paving the way for quantum computing, Biercuk said, noting that Q-CTRL’s near-term revenues are coming from its quantum-sensing GPS-backup system, already installed in commercial and military aircraft. Quantum computing may take longer to mature, but that doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t invest now, he added.
“Timing is a hard question, because training people is a decadal play,” Biercuk said. “Beginning to adopt quantum computing at the pre-advantage level is a way that you train your workforce both in how you build the machines but also how you operate the machines. So early adoption can be very valuable.”
Like Kamp, Biercuk stressed that countries don’t need to build a complete quantum hardware and software value chain to make a difference. Even for applications that require secrecy (like defense), the secrecy is needed at the application and data levels, which can be kept within country boundaries easily enough, he added.
The biggest challenges emerge when sovereign technologies cross over into techno-nationalism, Biercuk said. This happens when, beyond workforce development and economic opportunity capture, sovereign efforts focus too much on IP ownership or where businesses are domiciled.
“Techno-nationalism is a huge problem,” he said. “When it becomes the driver for adoption or policy, we see all sorts of perverse outcomes. We see machines that get sold not because they’re great machines, but because somebody says ‘I want the machine from my country’. I’m all for supporting local industry, but I think you need to do that in parallel with other things.”
Q-CTRL has experienced this first hand. Based in Australia, Biercuk said the company turned down deals with nations that required relocating Q-CTRL’s HQ to that country in order to participate in research programs or partner with sovereign entities.
“It has impacted us quite significantly because while we have made private capital investments into staff in various jurisdictions, some of those jurisdictions have said, well, we’re not convinced we’re going to get benefits, so you can’t participate in these programs,” he said. “We argued that we put several million dollars into a [local] team, but they weren’t convinced. This is techno-nationalism in our view.”
Techno-nationalism is bad for the quantum community and for business growth across the industry, Biercuk argued, adding that investment in early-stage technology companies can help both early adoption of technologies like quantum to build skills without protectionism.
“There is nothing that has led to more economic development in the quantum industry [in Australia] than the existence of my business and the private capital that I have invested via my investors,” he said. “We believe that that lesson translates to other jurisdictions.”
While people generally don’t stay in a particular company for their whole career, they can gain valuable experience that can serve them well as they go on to start new companies, a critical part of building a tech ecosystem.
“It is the experience that leads to building up that entrepreneurial base,” Biercuk said. “Simply assuming that people who have never worked in startups before will suddenly, magically learn entrepreneurship at a level that can have them succeed is wishful thinking.”
Overall, any focus on the domicile of IP ownership is misguided, Biercuk said, since the link to that country is not how economic value accrues. “Economic value accrues by making employees rich with options, by having them then seed other companies,” he said. “People get so obsessed in political spheres with thinking that a patent application is the source of wealth. It is not. It is the people, the talent, and the experience.”
Originally written by: Sally Ward-Foxton
Source: EETimes
Published on: 10 February 2026
Link to original article: The Sovereign Quantum Race Starts Before Quantum Advantage
