Fujitsu and Riken Develop Superconducting Quantum Computer at the RIKEN RQC-Fujitsu Collaboration Center, Paving the Way for Platform for Hybrid Quantum Computing

Platform leverages new 64 qubit superconducting quantum computer to accelerate R&D for quantum chemistry calculations and quantum financial algorithms

Fujitsu and RIKEN announced the successful development of a new 64 qubit superconducting quantum computer at the RIKEN RQC-Fujitsu Collaboration Center. The new quantum computer leverages the technology developed by RIKEN and a consortium of joint research partners including Fujitsu for Japan’s first superconducting quantum computer, which was first revealed to the public in March 2023.

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Accompanying this announcement, Fujitsu and RIKEN further revealed the launch of a platform for hybrid quantum computing, which combines the computing power of the newly developed 64 qubit superconducting quantum computer with one of the world’s largest  40 qubit quantum computer simulators developed by Fujitsu. Fujitsu and RIKEN will provide the new platform to companies and research institutions that are conducting joint research with Fujitsu and RIKEN .

The new hybrid platform enables easy comparison of calculation results of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers against error-free results from quantum simulators, contributing to accelerated research in areas including performance evaluation of error mitigation algorithms in quantum applications.

Fujitsu and RIKEN are further developing a hybrid quantum algorithm that links superconducting quantum computing with high-performance computing (HPC). By linking a quantum computer with a quantum simulator that runs on an HPC, Fujitsu and RIKEN have succeeded in developing a hybrid quantum algorithm that enables quantum chemistry calculations with greater accuracy than conventional algorithms (CCSD(T))  The two partners plan to include this algorithm in the new platform.

Moving forward, Fujitsu and RIKEN will promote the development of technologies including high-density implementation to realize a 1,000 qubit superconducting quantum computer, as well as technologies to achieve more precise quantum gate operations.

Fujitsu and RIKEN will further provide quantum computing and quantum simulation resources to customers for applications in various fields including finance and drug discovery through this platform and promote R&D activities for quantum applications through joint research to accelerate the practical application of both quantum computing hardware and software.

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Leading the way to the age of practical quantum computing

The development of various quantum computing architectures has been progressing at high speed in recent years. The creation of reliable computing results with quantum computers, however, represents an ongoing challenge, as current NISQ systems are still suffering from computing errors due to noise in the surrounding environment.

Experts anticipate that the realization of a practical fault-tolerant quantum computer (FTQC) that can provide reliable, accurate results, will take a decade or longer. In addition, the simultaneous development of quantum applications to realize the practical use of quantum computers once a FTQC is available represents another priority.

Quantum simulators, which can digitally imitate quantum computation, provide a vital bridge toward the development of practical, fault-tolerant quantum computing. Unlike current quantum computers, quantum simulators can perform error-free and long-step (quantum-like) computations as they do not rely on error-prone qubits. However, as quantum simulators only digitally reproduce quantum computation on classical computers, they cannot realize actual quantum acceleration, an expected benefit of practical quantum computers.

To address these issues, Fujitsu and RIKEN have launched a new hybrid quantum computing platform that combines the advantages of superconducting quantum computers and quantum simulators, ultimately contributing to further usage of the superconducting quantum computer developed at the RIKEN RQC-Fujitsu Collaboration Center and the development of new quantum applications.

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