On March 30, local time, Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company Fujitsu announced that it has successfully developed the world's fastest analog quantum computer, containing 36 qubits, which can achieve twice the performance of other quantum simulators.
It is reported that the analog quantum computer is a parallel distributed quantum simulator developed for a cluster system of PRIMEHPC FX 700. The PRIMEHPC FX 700 is a Fujitsu-built supercomputer equipped with the A64FX CPU currently used by Fugaku, the world's fastest supercomputer.
Fujitsu PRIMEHPC FX700 supercomputer, image from Fujitsu
The new analog quantum computer is capable of running the quantum simulator software Qulacs at high speed on a 64-node cluster system, processing 36 qubits of quantum circuits in parallel, achieving approximately twice the performance of similar quantum simulators. Qulacs is one of the world's fastest quantum simulator software developed by Osaka University and QuinaSys in Japan.
Fujitsu has also developed a new method to rearrange the qubit states in distributed memory based on the progress of quantum circuits and the results of calculations, helping to reduce communication costs. The new analog quantum computer could also be compatible with other quantum simulator software other than Qulacs. With the high-speed performance of software and hardware, this simulated quantum computer will become an important bridge for the development of quantum computing applications in the future.
To further advance quantum computing applications, Fujitsu and Fujifilm will conduct a joint study on April 1 to explore the application of quantum computing in the field of materials science. Fujitsu is also working with QuanaSys to run Qamuy, a quantum chemical computing software on a new analog quantum computer, to perform various types of quantum chemical calculations at high speed.
In the future, Fujitsu will also accelerate the development of quantum computers, committed to developing a 40-qubit simulated quantum computer in 5 months, and working with multiple customers in the fields of finance and drug discovery to develop quantum applications.
"Going forward, our goal is to use new simulated quantum computers to drive the development of quantum applications for our users and ultimately contribute to the sustainable development of the world by solving a range of problems facing society." Vivek Mahajan, Chief Technology Officer of Fujitsu, said.