The US government has launched an on-premises quantum computer in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) today launched Pathfinder, the first commercially procured quantum computer at ORNL.

The 20-qubit Radiance system was supplied by European quantum computing firm IQM, marking the company’s first deployment in the US.

Pathfinder is connected to HPC systems in the National Center for Computational Sciences Technology Integration Group’s test bed, where ORNL researchers will develop the methods and tools for a hybrid quantum-HPC ecosystem.

“Our first US system now sits on Oak Ridge campus, connected to their HPC environment, owned and operated by their teams,” said Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM. “Quantum becomes useful when it works inside real computing infrastructure, and there is no better place to prove that. Oak Ridge is a place where serious computing is done.”

Plans to deploy the system were first announced last year. ORNL had been a customer of IQM through its quantum cloud since 2024.

ORNL has also previously deployed a quantum computer from Quantum Brilliance.

“On-premises systems enable us to demonstrate quantum computing concepts that realize our goal of building a scalable, hybrid HPC ecosystem,” added ORNL Quantum Science Center director Travis Humble. “The presence of the IQM Radiance quantum computer on campus has already accelerated integration with our world-class HPC capabilities. Our research teams are now developing new methods and tools to demonstrate applications in materials simulations, chemistry, and artificial intelligence.”

Founded in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018, IQM has now sold 23 systems to more than a dozen customers globally, with installations spanning Europe, Asia, and North America. The company claims it has sold more on-premises systems than any other manufacturer. It has delivered quantum systems to supercomputing centers in South Korea, Poland, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan.

IQM is in the process of going public via a SPAC merger.