Chattanooga's new quantum computer is online. EPB says businesses can use it next month

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A new quantum computer is now up and running in Chattanooga, and EPB says businesses will soon be able to pay to use it.

EPB announced Friday that it has launched an IonQ Forte Enterprise quantum computer at its Quantum Center.

The utility says combining that machine with its existing quantum network makes the Chattanooga facility the first in the country to offer commercial quantum computing and quantum networking in the same place.

EPB plans to open the computer to commercial customers in early October, with UTC lined up as its first customer. The utility says it's also working with Vanderbilt University on another project.

Before then, researchers working for EPB will get the first crack at it.

Eight graduate researchers brought to Chattanooga through a $4 million federal grant are developing quantum algorithms that EPB hopes could help it operate its electric grid more efficiently and reduce costs.

That's research, though, not a promise of immediate savings on customers' electric bills.

EPB says the researchers will use the new computer to test whether those algorithms can further optimize parts of its automated grid.

So what exactly is EPB trying to build?

Unlike the computers most of us use every day, quantum computers use principles of quantum physics to tackle certain kinds of calculations in fundamentally different ways.