Photonic quantum developer ORCA Computing has announced the launch of the PT-3, the third generation of its room-temperature photonic quantum computing architecture. The first operational system has been deployed at the Digital Realty Innovation Lab (DRIL) in London, running alongside NVIDIA GPU accelerated computing infrastructure.
Operating at room temperature and consuming 6 kW across two standard data center racks, the PT-3 system utilizes 64 photons across 128 qumodes to enhance the expressivity of classical machine learning models. Built on a modular, field-upgradeable architecture, the system is targeted at generative AI models for scientific research and large-scale industrial optimization workloads.
| [ PT-3 System Architecture & Benchmark Performance ] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domain / Benchmark | Hardware & Computing Integration | Performance & Benchmark Outcomes |
| • Generative AI for Science | • PT-3 (64 photons, 128 qumodes) + 32 NVIDIA Hopper GPUs | • Extended NVIDIA Proteína model; improved useful protein designability ratio by 20% over classical baselines. |
| • Industrial Optimization | • JIJ hybrid quantum-classical unit commitment solver | • Solved 25,755-variable energy scheduling benchmark in ~1 hour (>12x speedup over PT-2). |
| • Physical Specifications | • Room-temperature photonic architecture | • 6 kW power requirement across 2 standard racks; deployable within hours of installation. |
In life sciences benchmarks, the hybrid PT-3/NVIDIA system extended the NVIDIA Proteína generative protein design model to produce novel secondary structures with higher designability metrics. In industrial optimization, the system accelerated JIJ’s hybrid workflow on a 25,755-variable unit commitment energy scheduling problem—developed in collaboration with bp and the UK National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC)—achieving solution quality competitive with commercial optimization solvers while delivering a 12-fold speedup over predecessor hardware.
The PT-3 launch expands upon ORCA’s earlier PT-2 system launch and molecular AI benchmarks, complements JIJ and ORCA’s energy grid optimization white paper, and builds on ORCA’s ongoing cuQuantum simulation integration with NVIDIA.
Review the full press announcement on the ORCA Computing Pressroom here.
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