IBM has announced an expansion of its quantum computing Q Network, which now includes over 100 organisations across multiple industries, including: airline, automotive, finance, energy, materials and electronics.

Anthem, Delta Air Lines, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Woodside Energy are among the latest to begin to explore practical applications of quantum computing.

In addition, several academic institutions, government research labs and startups have also joined the network, including the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Stanford University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, AIQTech, Beit, Quantum Machines, Tradeteq and Zurich Instruments.

They join over 200,000 users, who have run hundreds of billions of executions on IBM's quantum systems and simulators through the IBM Cloud, leading to the publication of more than 200 third-party research papers on quantum applications.

IBM also recently announced the planned installation of the first two IBM Q System One commercial universal quantum computers outside the US – one with German applied research institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft; the other with The University of Tokyo. Both are designed to advance country-wide research and provide an education framework program to engage universities, industry, and government to grow a quantum computing community and foster new economic opportunities.

As part of the network, these organisations now have access to IBM's open source Qiskit software and developer tools, as well as to the IBM Quantum Computation Center, which now includes 15 of the most-advanced quantum computers commercially available to explore practical applications for business and science, including a 53-qubit system – the most in the industry.

"We are entering the quantum age, and IBM is working with our partners to apply this new technology in a way that can solve major business and societal problems," said Dario Gil, director of IBM Research. "Quantum computing will have a profound impact on key issues like finding new materials to capture carbon in the global fight against climate change, as well as the discovery of new chemistries that might power more energy efficient batteries."

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