Japan partners a quantum computer with a supercomputer

Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is spending Y6.5bn (~$41m) on a quantum computer from Massachusetts-based QuEra Computing.

It will be installed alongside an Nvidia-based supercomputer called ABCI-Q.

The aim is to “develop a hybrid quantum-classical computing platform, where quantum computing technology complements AIST’s ABCI-Q supercomputer with the goal of creating a platform for high-fidelity simulations and quantum AI applications”, said QuEra.

Installation is scheduled for 2025 – its first-generation 256qubit computer has been available through a cloud service since November 2022 and it has also been contracted to supply a quantum computer to the UK.

The associated supercomputer has more than 2,000 Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs in over 500 nodes, and it there to advance quantum circuit simulation, quantum machine learning and quantum-related algorithms.

“The integration of quantum computers with GPU supercomputing is a key milestone to unlock the potential of quantum computing to accelerate scientific discovery”, said Nvidia director of quantum computing Tim Costa.

QuEra’s technology revolves around neutral rubidium atoms, manipulated by laser optical tweezers and also operated by laser – altering the energy state of an electrons in the atom to represent the equivalent of 0 or 1.

Based in Boston, the company is built on research from MIT and Harvard University.

AIST, headquartered in Tokyo, is a large public research organisations dedicated to bridging between innovation and commercial applications.