Germany Deploys First Laser-Free Trapped-Ion Quantum Computer Inside Major Supercomputing Facility

Germany has switched on a quantum computer that controls its qubits with microwaves rather than lasers — a hardware distinction that, for the first time, allowed engineers to wire a gate-based trapped-ion system directly into one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers without the vibration-sensitive optical infrastructure that has historically kept such machines confined to specialty physics labs. On September 3, 2026, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Siegen-based startup eleQtron officially inaugurated JION at JSC — the Jülich trapped-ION quantum computer — at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

The inauguration ceremony, held before NRW Minister-President Hendrik Wüst, Economics Minister Mona Neubaur, and Science Minister Ina Brandes, was also the occasion for two additional funding announcements: approval of a successor project called SQALING and a second project called Q-STAR.NRW, each receiving up to approximately €25 million (approximately $29 million USD) from EU structural funds and NRW state support, signaling that JION is a waypoint in a multi-step regional quantum computing strategy. Both successor programs were announced at the ceremony alongside the JION inauguration itself.