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Finland connects a quantum computer to a supercomputer
VTT and CSC recently connected a quantum computer with Europe's fastest supercomputer to enable a hybrid service for researchers
www.computerweekly.com, Dec. 06, 2022 –
Finnish research and technology organisation VTT last month announced a milestone when, in collaboration with CSC – IT Center for Science and Aalto University, it connected the quantum computer HELMI with the pan-European supercomputer LUM.
HELMI is Finland's first quantum computer, a 5-qubit system that became operational in 2021. And the system it was connected to is no ordinary supercomputer – LUMI, the fastest supercomputer in Europe, which is able to carry out 309 petaflops. Like HELMI, LUMI became operational in 2021.
Hosted by CSC – IT Center for Science, LUMI ranks third in the latest Top 500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers. Not only is it fast, but it is also eco-friendly (relative to other supercomputers), ranking seventh in the Green 500 list of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world.
A practical reason for making a hybrid system like this is that quantum computers are difficult to use as standalone systems. Programmers have to take into account the unique architecture of any given system and the nature of the errors observed for each of the qubits on it. Every qubit is faulty in its own unique way.
On top of that, the ecosystem around quantum computing is not mature enough to offer a good set of tools to program quantum computers, to execute programs and to read the output. But there are other reasons.
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