Diraq's 8-qubit silicon quantum computer goes live at Equinix in Sydney

Diraq, a private quantum computing company with Australian research operations and U.S. teams, said its eight-qubit silicon spin quantum computer is now live inside an Equinix (EQIX) data center in Sydney, in a release dated November 10 in Sydney, which was November 9 in New York. Diraq calls it the world’s first silicon spin quantum computer in a commercial data center.

A qubit is the basic unit a quantum computer computes with. Diraq’s are silicon spin qubits: tiny devices on a silicon chip that store information in the spin of an electron, a magnetic property. Diraq says they are made with the same processes as ordinary computer chips, so a customer can add computing power by swapping the processor. For scale, Diraq plans up to 256 qubits in the same system within the next year, and its October 8 release says a useful machine will need more than 2 million physical qubits on a single chip, which it targets for 2031. Rigetti’s Cepheus-1 system has 108, it said on November 10.

The current system draws less than 20 kW and takes 172 square feet of floor space, the release said. Diraq expects a future utility-scale system, one that delivers more value than it costs to build and run, to draw about 300 kW and fit in as little as 54 square feet. Diraq says it targets “at most tens of millions of dollars” for each utility-scale system. The release gives no error rates for the eight qubits, the measure that shows whether qubits are reliable enough to be scaled up.

Diraq and Equinix announced the project on September 1 in Sydney, saying installation would finish in October 2026 and that customers would see the system once testing was complete. Diraq’s new release gives no terms with Equinix, the host, names no customer and gives no price.

What government money is behind Diraq?

On October 8, Diraq said DARPA, the U.S. defense research agency, had moved it to Stage C, the last stage, of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, with an initial US$51 million tranche for the next year and potential funding of up to US$300 million. DARPA’s page lists six Stage C companies, including IonQ (IONQ), IBM and Microsoft. The program asks whether a useful quantum computer can be built by 2033.

In May, the U.S. Commerce Department signed letters of intent with nine quantum companies under the CHIPS and Science Act, including up to $38 million for Diraq. These are planned amounts. The Department would receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company as a condition for receiving the funds.

Why it matters

• The approach: Diraq’s case is cost, with chips from existing factories and machines that fit a standard data center. A system running outside a lab is a first test of that claim, but without error rates it does not show whether these qubits can scale.
• Competition: Intel (INTC), a listed chipmaker with its own factories, also builds silicon spin qubits, so it is the yardstick for Diraq’s claim that the approach scales in existing chip plants. Intel agreed on October 26 to buy the software company Classiq, adding software to its hardware, while Diraq is building its case as a private company on government funding.
• Next: only the first US$51 million DARPA tranche is set, for the year from October 8, 2026, and the CHIPS amount is a letter of intent. Diraq targets up to 256 qubits in the Sydney system “within the next year”, with no firmer date.

The Many Worlds Team

Last checked 2026-11-12

Sources

• Diraq, “Diraq deploys world’s first silicon spin quantum computer inside a commercial data center”, November 10, 2026 (Sydney): https://www.diraq.com/newsdesk/diraq-deploys-worlds-first-silicon-spin-quantum-computer-inside-a-commercial-data-center
• Diraq, “Diraq to Deploy a Quantum Computer Inside an Equinix Data Center”, September 1, 2026 (Sydney): https://www.diraq.com/newsdesk/diraq-to-deploy-a-quantum-computer-inside-an-australian-equinix-data-centernbsp
• Diraq, advance to Stage C of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, October 8, 2026: https://www.diraq.com/newsdesk/diraq-advances-to-final-stage-of-darpas-quantum-benchmarking-initiativenbsp
• DARPA, Quantum Benchmarking Initiative program page, current as of October 8, 2026: https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/quantum-benchmarking-initiative
• U.S. Department of Commerce, letters of intent with nine quantum companies under the CHIPS and Science Act, May 21, 2026: https://www.nist.gov/document/quantum-chips-press-release
• Intel, agreement to acquire Classiq, October 26, 2026: https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1784/intel-to-acquire-classiq-to-create-a-full-stack-quantum-computing-platform