German Chancellor Angela Merkel Photo:VCG

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday inaugurated Germany's first quantum computer, built by US firm IBM, hailing it as a milestone at a time of "intense competition" with foreign rivals in harnessing the revolutionary technology.

The cutting-edge "Q System One," located in Ehningen near Stuttgart, is the first of its kind outside the US and will be operated by Germany's Fraunhofer research institute.

Speaking via video link at the virtual launch, Merkel described the supercomputer as a "technological wonder" that could play "a key role in our efforts for technological and digital sovereignty, and of course for economic growth."

Merkel said China and the US were already investing heavily both in quantum research and its potential commercial applications.

Scientists believe that once the technology has matured, super-fast quantum computing will power innovation in a range of fields, from smarter encryption software and artificial intelligence to more efficient medical research and energy use.

Quantum computers can process complex information at a mind-boggling speed and should vastly outperform even the most powerful of today's conventional computers.

Regular computers function in binary fashion: They carry out tasks using tiny fragments of data known as bits that are only either 1 or 0.

But fragments of data on a quantum computer can be both 1 and 0 at the same time - allowing them to crunch an enormous number of potential outcomes simultaneously.

AFP