The EU-backed SUPREME (Superconducting European Quantum Pilot Line) project officially launched on May 11-13, 2026, at a kick-off event in Helsinki hosted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The initiative represents a €50 million ($56 million) effort to industrialize superconducting quantum technologies across Europe. The European Union granted €25 million to the consortium, with national funding from the member states bringing the total to approximately €50 million. Funding is provided equally by the EU Chips Joint Undertaking and national funding agencies.
Coordinated by VTT, the initiative is designed to industrialize superconducting quantum technologies over a three-and-a-half-year first phase. The 23-partner consortium from eight EU member states aims to deliver stable, scalable fabrication processes and demonstrate a 3D-integrated 200-qubit module while reaching TRL 6 and MRL 6 for applications spanning quantum computing, sensing, and communications. The consortium will focus on developing technologies including angle evaporated and etched Josephson junctions, 3D integration methods, and hybrid quantum processes.
Partners include research organizations such as CEA (France), Fraunhofer (Germany), and TNO (Netherlands), alongside large enterprises like Infineon Technologies and IQM Quantum Computers. Participating small and medium enterprises include Alice & Bob, QuantWare, QphoX, and Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech.
According to Pekka Pursula, Vice President for Microelectronics and Quantum Technology at VTT and coordinator of the SUPREME consortium, the programme aims to ensure that “innovations developed through SUPREME can be widely adopted by businesses across Europe.” To maximize impact, SUPREME will make its fabrication processes available to companies through Process Design Kits (PDKs) and pilot runs, including shared fabrication runs that allow early-stage companies to split the cost of full wafer fabrication.
SUPREME is committed to strengthening Europe’s position in quantum technology by building the basis for European technology sovereignty, and it contributes to the goals of both the European Quantum strategy and the European Chips Act. First technologies are expected to be available for external users in 2027. The programme sits within Finland’s broader quantum ambitions: VTT and IQM announced the completion of Europe’s largest superconducting quantum computer at 50 qubits in spring 2025, with ongoing collaboration targeting 150-qubit and later 300-qubit systems.