By Supantha Mukherjee and Stine Jacobsen

STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN, July 17 (Reuters) - The Novo

Nordisk Foundation and Denmark's state-owned credit fund said on

Thursday they will invest in what they say will be the world's

most powerful quantum computer, aiming to revolutionize areas

such as drug discovery and materials science.

Quantum computing holds the promise of carrying out

calculations that would take today's systems millions of years

and could unlock discoveries in medicine, chemistry and many

other fields where near-infinite seas of possible combinations

of molecules confound classical computers.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the non-profit which controls

pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, and Denmark's

Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), said in a statement they

would invest 80 million euros ($92.93 million) in the initiative

called QuNorth.

Microsoft ( MSFT ), which has its largest quantum lab in

Denmark, will provide software and Atom Computing will build the

quantum computer.

The computer will be named Magne, inspired by Norse

mythology where Magne, the son of Thor, is known for his immense

strength.

Construction will begin in autumn and the computer is

expected to be ready by the end of next year.

The quantum computer will start operating with 50 logical

qubits, Jason Zander, Microsoft's ( MSFT ) executive vice president, told

Reuters.

A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the basic unit of

information in a quantum computer and a logical qubit is a

virtual qubit built from many physical qubits to reliably

process quantum information.

Last November, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Atom created 24 logical qubits,

the highest number ever created.

"When we get to about 50 logical qubits, that's when we

start hitting true quantum advantage," Zander said.

"I get to the point where I can run something on a quantum

computer that I could not run on a classic computer."

"When the machine gets up to 100 (logical qubits), we can

start doing science problems, get up to a couple 100s, we can

start doing some chemistry and starting to answer things, and

then when all the way up to 1,000, now you are solving

everything," Zander said.

($1 = 0.8606 euros)