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The Australian startup's 8-qubit system is running at an Equinix facility in Sydney, sharing space with classical servers and GPUs
Wed 11 Nov 2026 · 17:03 EST · 3 min read
In Technology
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Quantum computers usually live like rare orchids: isolated, pampered, and kept far away from anything resembling normal life. Diraq just moved one into a commercial data center.
The Australian startup has launched an 8-qubit silicon spin quantum computer at an Equinix data center in Sydney. That makes it the first silicon spin system running in a shared facility rather than a dedicated lab.
A quantum machine with ordinary neighbors
The system came online around November 9-10, 2026. It takes up approximately 170 square feet of floor space.
The full assembly draws under 20 kW of power.
Diraq’s machine plugs into standard data center infrastructure, including classical servers and GPUs. This deployment is meant to test hybrid quantum-classical workflows in a live environment, with real-world conditions instead of lab-perfect ones.
From 8 qubits to 256, then much further
Eight qubits is a starting point, not a destination. Diraq plans to bring the system up to 256 qubits within the next year.
According to the company’s approach, that upgrade could happen through relatively simple chip swaps. The hardware around the chip stays put while the processor at the center gets more capable.
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The longer roadmap is considerably more ambitious. Diraq is targeting 150,000 physical qubits by 2029 and more than 2 million qubits by 2031.
Its stated goal is utility-scale quantum operation, with millions of qubits on a single chip, by 2031. The company says that would land two years ahead of DARPA’s own timeline.
Silicon spin qubits are built on the same basic material the semiconductor industry has spent decades learning to manufacture, positioning scaling as more of an engineering problem than a physics breakthrough waiting to happen.
Who is behind Diraq
Diraq was founded by Andrew Dzurak, a professor at UNSW Sydney.
In October 2026, Diraq advanced to Stage C of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, the final stage of the program. That progression gives the company potential access to funding of up to $300 million.
Diraq also holds a $38 million letter of intent under the US CHIPS and Science Act.
The company has also pointed to a report titled “Quantum at Work” that outlines potential industry applications. Among them, the report suggests improvements to US drug approval rates of about 25 annually.
What this means
For investors and policymakers, the milestones to watch are concrete. The first is whether the 256-qubit upgrade arrives on schedule via chip swaps, as planned. The second is whether DARPA’s Stage C process converts into actual funding, and whether the CHIPS Act letter of intent becomes a finalized award.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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