QuEra Computing announced it has received a contract from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to install one of QuEra’s neutral atom processor at the institute’s Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT) in Tsukuba, Japan. This will be QuEra’s second deal to install an on-premise machine at a customer site. They will also be providing a quantum testbed to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) national quantum program.
G-QuAT is the same R&D center that we described last month that will be installing 2000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs for large scale emulation of quantum algorithms. As part of their research, AIST will be exploring uses of hybrid algorithms that couples the QuEra quantum computer with AIST’s ABCI-Q supercomputer, NVIDIA GPUs, and NVIDIA’s CUDA-Q software.
Unlike QuEra’s current Aquila system which only supports analog mode, the computer to be installed at G-QuAT will be a second generation machine with at least 256 qubits that will support digital gate-based mode. (See our previous article describing QuEra’s roadmap here.) The quantum processor is expected to be installed in Q1’2025. As part of the arrangement, QuEra will be providing support and maintenance services to AIST to ensure smooth operation of the processor.
A press release announcing AIST’s selection of QuEra for providing a quantum computer has been posted here on the QuEra website.
April 30, 2024