In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks at China’s new ARM-based Exascale supercomputer prototype. “The Sunway exascale computer prototype is very much like a concept car that can run on road,” said Yang Meihong, director of the National Supercomputing Center in Jinan. “We expect to build the exascale computer in the second half of 2020 or the first half of 2021.”
The Rigetti 128-qubit chip — What it means for quantum
August 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Chad Rigetti writes that his company is building a 128-qubit quantum computer over the next 12 months. The company has already built the 128-qubit processing chip. If successful, it could be the world’s most powerful quantum computer and it could have the chance to outpace traditional supercomputers. “To drive practical use of quantum computing today, we must be able to scale and improve the performance of the chips and connect them to the electronics on which they run — which has proven to be one of the most challenging aspects of quantum computing.”
NSF STAQ Project to devise First Practical Quantum Computer
August 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
To accelerate the development of a practical quantum computer that will one day answer currently unsolvable research questions, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $15 million over five years to the multi-institution Software-Tailored Architecture for Quantum co-design (STAQ) project. “Developing the first practical quantum computer would be a major milestone. By bringing together experts who have outlined a path to a practical quantum computer and supporting its development, NSF is working to take the quantum revolution from theory to reality.”
Abstractions and Directives for Adapting Wavefront Algorithms to Future Architectures
July 22, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Robert Searles from the University of Delaware gave this talk at PASC18. “Architectures are rapidly evolving, and exascale machines are expected to offer billion-way concurrency. We need to rethink algorithms, languages and programming models among other components in order to migrate large scale applications and explore parallelism on these machines. Although directive-based programming models allow programmers to worry less about programming and more about science, expressing complex parallel patterns in these models can be a daunting task especially when the goal is to match the performance that the hardware platforms can offer.”
D-Wave Demonstrates Large-Scale Programmable Quantum Simulation
July 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Today D-Wave Systems announced the publication of a significant scientific result in the peer-reviewed journal Science. The article, titled “Phase transitions in a programmable spin glass simulator,” details how a D-Wave 2000Q quantum computer was used to predict phase transitions within a particular quantum mechanical system known as the transverse field Ising model. “This work represents an important milestone for quantum computing, because it is the first time physics of this kind has been simulated in a scalable architecture at such a large scale,” said Vern Brownell, CEO of D-Wave.
Video Highlights from ISC 2018
July 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment
In this video, Steve Conway from Hyperion Research provides a summary of the ISC High Performance Conference in Frankfurt, Germany. “The ISC High Performance conference attracted 3,505 attendees from over 60 countries, as well as 162 companies and research organizations to unveil their latest technologies and services at the event. With this feat, ISC High Performance has officially reached a new milestone in its 33-year conference history.”
Atos Announces New Quantum Simulator with 41 Qubits
July 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Today Atos announced the latest version of its Atos Quantum Learning Machine, the “first commercially available and ready-to-use quantum system,” capable of simulating up to 41 quantum bits (Qubits). “It also incorporates world-firsts in terms of simulating ‘quantum noise’ in order to make the simulation even more realistic. These advances – combined with our work to develop a quantum accelerator within five years – place Atos and its customers in an ideal position to take advantage of future digital revolutions.”
Atos Quantum Learning Machine Comes to SURFsara in the Netherlands
June 15, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Dutch researchers have a new opportunity to experiment with Quantum Computing with the new Atos Quantum Learning Machine at SURFsara. The Atos Quantum Learning Machine is a complete on-premise quantum simulation environment designed for quantum software developers to generate quantum algorithms. It is dedicated to the development of quantum software, training and experimentation. The Atos Quantum Learning Machine allows researchers, engineers and students to develop and experiment with quantum software.
HPC Startups: Sign up for the SC18 Coffee Shop
June 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Startups have always had a tough time in the HPC space. Now, the SC18 conference is offering to lend a helping hand with a startup showcase they’re calling the SC18 Coffee Shop. “Starting a new business is no easy feat and this is our effort to help smaller companies get exposure to our diverse and dynamic audience,” said SC18 Exhibits Chair Christy Adkinson, from Cray Inc. “We see this as a win-win for emerging companies and our attendees.”
Quantum Computing in China: Progress on a Superconducting Multi-Qubits System
June 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Dr. Xiaobo Zhu from China’s University of Science and Technology gave this talk at the HPC User Forum in Tucson. “CAS-Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory introduces quantum technology into computing sciences, aiming to manufacture high-speed quantum computers, and propelling quantum revolution in the computing world. This research has resulted in a Quantum Computing Cloud powered by a quantum processor which includes 11 superconducting qubits. This superconducting quantum chip works at extreme temperatures as low as 10mk (or -273.14℃).”
