NVIDIA has announced that it will be providing quantum software to power national supercomputing centers in Germany and Japan with its open-source NVIDIA CUDA-Q™ platform. This platform handles high-performance quantum-classical computations and integrates with Quantum Processing Units (QPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and Central Processing Units (CPUs) in one system.

Germany and Japan implement NVIDIA’s quantum software platform to enhance quantum technology initiatives

In Germany, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) at Forschungszentrum Jülich is integrating a QPU manufactured by IQM Quantum Computers into its JUPITER supercomputer, enhanced by the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper™ Superchip, to optimise its capabilities.

JSC researchers working on creating quantum applications for chemical simulations and optimization processes using the JUPITER can now have enhanced speed and accuracy as it is embedded with QPU thereby making the classical supercomputer more powerful with its integration with quantum computers. The QPUs are built with superconducting qubits or electronic resonant circuits, that can behave as artificial atoms manufactured at low temperatures.

“Quantum computing is being brought closer by hybrid quantum-classical accelerated supercomputing,” said Kristel Michielsen, head of the quantum information processing group at JSC. “Through our ongoing collaboration with NVIDIA, JSC’s researchers will advance the fields of quantum computing as well as chemistry and material science.”

Also, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan which drives the vision to develop the nation’s quantum technology initiatives has built the ABCI-Q Supercomputer powered by the NVIDIA Hopper™ architecture. This system will add a QPU from QuEra.

These QPUs are the engines that make quantum computers run efficiently by understanding the behaviors of particles such as electrons and photons to solve problems potentially faster than traditional computers. So, just as a CPU is to a classical or traditional computer is a QPU to a quantum computer. However, for smooth and efficient operations, these QPUs have to be designed with quantum processors to ensure extremely high performance when handling gigantic complex computational problems.

“Japan’s researchers will make progress toward practical quantum computing applications with the ABCI-Q quantum-classical accelerated supercomputer,” said Masahiro Horibe, deputy director of G-QuAT/AIST.

This integration at AIST promises to help researchers study the applications of quantum technology in AI, energy, and biology by utilising Rubidium atoms controlled by laser light as qubits. This will enable them to perform computing at scale with high fidelity when working on hard problems across the stated industries and beyond.

Other integrations from NVIDIA include Poland’s Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) which recently installed two photonic QPUs, built by ORCA Computing, connected to a new supercomputer partition accelerated by NVIDIA Hopper. NVIDIA continues to position its products in the quantum computing market by providing quality products that enable the development of revolutionary applications.

NVIDIA’s bet is heavily placed on combining quantum technology with classical supercomputers rather than a pure quantum computing play, which many companies building in the ecosystem are focused on. Perhaps, they are gradually transitioning from a soon-to-be legacy technology to a revolutionary one, creating commercial viability in record time while still pushing the boundaries of quantum technology solutions and developing efficient algorithms.