EY announced on July 29, 2026, “the addition of an on-site quantum computer led by EY Canada” as part of a global investment of more than $3 billion in AI and other new technologies. The new capabilities “will support the processing of highly sensitive workloads in areas such as optimization, fraud detection, data protection and large-scale risk management,” EY said.
EY named the work it wants the machine to do but did not say, in that release or in a companion release from EY Canada, who built the machine, how many qubits it has, or how it performs on any task.
Joe Depa, EY’s global chief innovation officer, told Accounting Today that the machine is a photonic quantum computer, a type that uses particles of light as qubits. He declined to share its exact technical specifications or its cost. The publication reported that the machine is in EY’s Toronto office.
Depa said the machine’s immediate value is not in replacing classical computing. He said the firm’s near-term focus is on helping its people and clients build quantum readiness, including for post-quantum cryptography, the public-key encryption and signature methods designed to withstand attacks from future quantum computers. Organizations run those methods on classical computers and do not need a quantum machine to adopt them.
To his knowledge, Depa said, EY is the first large accounting firm to own a physical quantum computer instead of reaching one through cloud providers or partnerships. He said that by owning a machine, EY can explore use cases directly and build intellectual property. The firm can also work through security scenarios and train staff on working hardware, he said.
Depa said EY chose Canada for its standing in quantum computing, its talent and research relationships, and its proximity to clients. He said hosting the machine in Canada also aligns with Canadian data-residency, privacy, security, and regulatory considerations.
Disclosure: Quantum Observer’s Editor-in-Chief Marin Ivezic is the founder and CEO of Applied Quantum, a quantum systems integration and consulting firm.
What EY Canada said
The investment in an on-site quantum computer “further enables the processing of highly sensitive workloads within Canadian borders,” EY Canada said in its release. In a subheading, EY Canada wrote that the investment “marks a shift from quantum experimentation to solving real business challenges for clients.”
EY cited dedicated access to the machine and greater control over the development of new applications, including where data resides and how it is managed. “This announcement shifts the conversation on quantum computing from concept to practical use for clients across markets,” Biren Agnihotri, EY Canada’s chief technology officer, said in the global release.
What EY did not disclose
In neither release did EY name a supplier or model, give a qubit count, or publish gate fidelities or benchmark results. Gate fidelity is a measure of how reliably a quantum computer performs its basic operations. A benchmark is a standard test that lets researchers compare one machine’s performance with another’s.
EY did not describe the machine’s qubit type in either release. Depa disclosed the photonic design in his interview with Accounting Today.
The machine’s applications “span financial services, energy, supply chain and government,” EY Canada wrote. Under the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s roadmap, federal departments and agencies are to finish migrating high-priority non-classified systems to post-quantum cryptography by the end of 2031 and remaining systems by the end of 2035.
