Diraq Runs 8-Qubit Silicon Spin Quantum Computer in Sydney Data Center

Diraq has switched on an eight-qubit silicon spin quantum computer inside an Equinix data center in Sydney, a deployment the company calls the world's first silicon spin quantum machine operating in a commercial data center. The system went live on Monday, Diraq said.

The machine draws under 20 kW and occupies 170 square feet. Diraq plans to upgrade the same deployed system to as many as 256 qubits within roughly a year, without replacing the surrounding infrastructure. The company disclosed no pricing for the deployment.

How does the system reach the data center floor?

Diraq and Equinix announced the project on Aug. 31. At the time, the companies said the unit would sit alongside standard servers, with its cryogenic cooling and control electronics fully self-contained. That packaging choice matters commercially: the machine requires no specialized facility build-out beyond power and rack space.

The two companies will now evaluate remote monitoring, network connectivity and integration with the CPUs and GPUs already running in the facility. After benchmarking, they plan to open the system to enterprise partners and customers. Neither company has disclosed customers or pricing for that access phase.

"Diraq's deployment in our data center is an important proof point for quantum," said Harmeen Mehta, Equinix's chief digital and innovation officer.

Why silicon spin qubits?

Diraq stores qubits in the spins of electrons on silicon chips fabricated with the same CMOS processes used for conventional semiconductors. The company works with GlobalFoundries and imec on fabrication. This is the core of its commercial argument against rival quantum architectures: because the qubits live on the chip itself, adding capacity means swapping the quantum processor while leaving power, cooling and rack infrastructure in place.

The footprint numbers back that claim. A utility-scale Diraq system would draw about 300 kW and could fit in as little as 50 square feet — roughly two-thirds of the floor space of the current eight-qubit demonstrator, while delivering far greater qubit count. Diraq targets a cost of no more than tens of millions of dollars for such a machine.

That density stands in contrast to many competing platforms, where scaling qubit counts typically demands larger cryogenic assemblies and new facility engineering. Diraq's model treats the quantum processor as a replaceable component inside a standard rack.

What is DARPA's role?

In October, DARPA moved Diraq into Stage C, the final stage of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. Atom Computing, IBM and IonQ moved up in the same round, joining Microsoft and PsiQuantum, which were already there. Diraq's Stage C agreement is worth up to $300 million.

The DARPA program pushes companies toward independently verified utility-scale quantum computing. Stage C participation places Diraq in a small group of federal-backed contenders spanning superconducting, neutral-atom, trapped-ion, photonic and now silicon spin platforms.

Founder and CEO Andrew Dzurak said utility-scale quantum computing is achievable within five years.

What happens next?

The Sydney machine is a test bed, not a product. Its near-term purpose is to prove that a silicon spin quantum computer can operate under commercial data center conditions — shared power, shared cooling loads, standard network management — and to generate benchmark data before external users gain access.

The next concrete milestone is the qubit upgrade. If Diraq lifts the deployed system from eight to 256 qubits within its stated one-year window while keeping the same rack, power draw and cooling envelope, the company will have demonstrated the swap-the-processor scaling model on live commercial infrastructure rather than in a laboratory.