Deep Tech, High Performance Computing

QDA finds quantum systems need data center integration to become useful

Avatar of Ivy Delaney
October 2, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Leaders from NVIDIA, IBM, and Equinix were among those gathered at the second international Quantum Datacenter Alliance (QDA) Forum to address a significant change in quantum computing development. The forum highlighted that system level architecture, control, error correction, interoperability and power consumption are now considered as critical as the qubits themselves, signaling a move toward practical deployment. “As quantum computing moves towards large-scale utility, collaboration becomes critical,” said Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, Founder and CEO of Nu Quantum, emphasizing a growing need for open approaches to building scalable and reliable quantum infrastructure.

QDA Forum Highlights Data Center Integration for Quantum Utility

Equinix reports that hybrid infrastructure is already enabling commercial applications of quantum computing, with companies currently using the technology for high-precision molecular modelling and financial trading optimization. This assessment, shared at the second Quantum Datacenter Alliance Forum, signals a shift from purely theoretical quantum research towards practical, revenue-generating deployments. The forum, held at Battersea Power Station in London, focused on integrating emerging quantum hardware into existing data center infrastructure, a challenge now considered paramount to the technology’s advancement.

Attendees emphasized that achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing requires equal attention to system-level concerns as to qubit development. This represents a significant change in focus for the field, acknowledging that hardware alone is insufficient for building a scalable and useful quantum computer.

Ben Bloom, Founder and CEO at Atom Computing, explained that constructing a utility-scale quantum computer necessitates the combination of multiple components and collaborative efforts, not solely the innovation of a single company or technology. The QDA Forum also highlighted the growing need for open collaboration to address the shared challenges of building quantum computing as a reliable and efficient infrastructure.

Dr. Dame Wendy Hall, speaking on lessons learned from classical computing and artificial intelligence, highlighted the importance of proactive communication, noting that explaining quantum computing to non-technical audiences presents a unique challenge, requiring careful messaging to preempt potential public concerns. Hannah Boardman, Director responsible for AI, Quantum, Engineering Biology, Semiconductors, Robotics for Science, Innovation & Technology, added that initiatives like the QDA demonstrate the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration in identifying and achieving common goals. The QDA plans to continue encouraging these connections through future forums, working groups and events, driving the industry towards commercially viable quantum computing solutions.

Over the past two days, Nu Quantum and its partners have been exploring how to integrate quantum systems into a data center.

Ben Bloom, Founder and CEO at Atom Computing
More like this
Artificial IntelligenceOpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast runs 8x faster on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs
Artificial IntelligenceNVIDIA GPUs help AI factories get the most tokens per megawatt
PhysicsUT laser design powers new ultrafast X-ray facility
TechnologyHamamatsu Photonics unveils microscope for AI chip failure analysis
Stay current

See today’s quantum computing news on Quantum Zeitgeist for the latest breakthroughs in qubits, hardware, algorithms, and industry deals.

Tags:
Atom Computing error correction High Performance Computing IBM Nu Quantum Quantinuum Quantum Computing
Avatar of Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

Latest Posts by Ivy Delaney: