Italian court suspends €47m quantum computing contract with IBM following tender process appeal - Data Center Dynamics
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Italian court suspends €47m quantum computing contract with IBM following tender process appeal Unsuccessful bidder Tea Tek claims procedural process was unfair February 27, 2026 By Charlotte Trueman Have your say Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit Email Share An Italian court has suspended a €47 million ($56m) contract between IBM and the University of Salerno for the delivery and installation of a quantum computer.Per a report from La Città, the court has agreed to review an appeal by Tea Tek, a company that was unsuccessful in its bid for the tender. – Getty Images The report notes that Tea Tek – which submitted a joint proposal with Rigetti, Treq, and Quantware – is not challenging the technical aspects of IBM’s proposal, instead claiming that deadline extensions granted by the Campania regional government indirectly favored operators who had been hesitant about submitting a proposal.No timeline for a resolution of the case has been disclosed.The tender awarded to IBM would have seen the company install a quantum computer at the former Ruggiero library on the university’s Fisciano campus in south-west Italy. The Campania government had been looking to establish a “quantum valley” in the region and promote the site as a future high-performance computing research and development hub.IBM declined to comment when approached by DCD.In its report, La Città noted that this is not the first high-value contract that has come under scrutiny in Campania. Tenders awarded by former Governor Vincenzo De Luca were canceled or reopened as a result of procedural errors, with bids for the construction of a hospital in Salerno having to be scrapped after they faced criticism from Italy’s national anti-corruption authority Subscribe to The Compute, Storage & Networking Channel for regular news round-ups, market reports, and more. Create an Account to Subscribe Now More in HPC & Quantum 19 Feb 2026 Scaleway to offer access to AQT quantum computer via cloud platform 23 Feb 2026 IQM Quantum Computers to go public via SPAC merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. 19 Dec 2025 CloudCIX and AlloComp deploy Nvidia supercomputer in Cork, Ireland More in Europe The Sport Supplement 24 Feb 2026 Vantage Towers pairs with Elisa Industriq’s Gridle to bolster telecoms infrastructure resiliency in Spain Episode Mapping Europe’s emerging data center cities Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit Email Share Tags Campania IBM Italy Tea Tek University of Salerno