Reference Architecture of a Quantum-Centric Supercomputer
Seetharami Seelam, Jerry M. Chow, Antonio D. Corcoles, Sarah Sheldon, Mittal, Tushar, Abhinav Kandala, Sean Dague, Ian Hincks, Hiroshi Horii, Blake Johnson, Michael Le, Hani T. Jamjoom, Jay Gambetta
Quantum computers have demonstrated utility in simulating quantum systems beyond brute-force classical approaches. As the community builds on these demonstrations to explore using quantum computing for applied research, algorithms and workflows have emerged that require leveraging both quantum computers and classical high-performance computing (HPC) systems to scale applications, especially in chemistry and materials, beyond what either system can simulate alone. Today, these disparate systems operate in isolation, forcing users to manually orchestrate workloads, coordinate job scheduling, and transfer data between systems -- a cumbersome process that hinders productivity and severely limits rapid algorithmic exploration. These challenges motivate the need for flexible and high-performance Quantum-Centric Supercomputing (QCSC) systems that integrate Quantum Processing Units (QPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and Central Processing Units (CPUs) to accelerate discovery of such algorithms across applications. These systems will be co-designed across quantum and classical HPC infrastructure, middleware, and application layers to accelerate the adoption of quantum computing for solving critical computational problems. We envision QCSC evolution through three distinct phases: (1) quantum systems as specialized compute offload engines within existing HPC complexes; (2) heterogeneous quantum and classical HPC systems coupled through advanced middleware, enabling seamless execution of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms; and (3) fully co-designed heterogeneous quantum-HPC systems for hybrid computational workflows. This article presents a reference architecture and roadmap for these QCSC systems.
Quantum computers have demonstrated utility in simulating quantum systems beyond brute-force classical approaches. As the community builds on these demonstrations to explore using quantum computing for applied research, algorithms and workflows have emerged that require leveraging both quantum computers and classical high-performance computing (HPC) systems to scale applications, especially in chemistry and materials, beyond what either system can simulate alone. Today, these disparate systems operate in isolation, forcing users to manually orchestrate workloads, coordinate job scheduling, and transfer data between systems -- a cumbersome process that hinders productivity and severely limits rapid algorithmic exploration. These challenges motivate the need for flexible and high-performance Quantum-Centric Supercomputing (QCSC) systems that integrate Quantum Processing Units (QPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and Central Processing Units (CPUs) to accelerate discovery of such algorithms across applications. These systems will be co-designed across quantum and classical HPC infrastructure, middleware, and application layers to accelerate the adoption of quantum computing for solving critical computational problems. We envision QCSC evolution through three distinct phases: (1) quantum systems as specialized compute offload engines within existing HPC complexes; (2) heterogeneous quantum and classical HPC systems coupled through advanced middleware, enabling seamless execution of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms; and (3) fully co-designed heterogeneous quantum-HPC systems for hybrid computational workflows. This article presents a reference architecture and roadmap for these QCSC systems.
High-performance computing (HPC) has evolved over decades through multiple architectural transitions, from vector supercomputers to massively parallel CPU clusters and GPU-accelerated systems, continuously expanding the frontier of scientific discovery. With the emergence of quantum processing units (QPUs) as practical computational accelerators, a new opportunity arises to further extend this trajectory by integrating quantum and classical computing paradigms. Building on the emerging vision of Quantum Integrated High-Performance Computing (QHPC), this paper contributes a full-stack layered architecture that integrates QPUs as first-class accelerators within, not merely alongside, the classical HPC software and hardware stack, with tight, on-premise quantum-classical coupling as its defining characteristic. The architecture comprises of unified resource management, quantum-aware scheduling, hybrid workflow orchestration, middleware and programming abstraction, interconnect technologies, and a tiered execution model enabling seamless workload partitioning across classical and quantum backends. A central aspect of this architecture is a strong user requests abstraction layer that exposes heterogeneous resources through a unified job submission interface, similar in spirit to existing schedulers such as Slurm, allowing users to describe workloads in a consistent template independent of underlying compute type or location. Drawing insights from prior accelerator integration eras, we outline how QHPC can support emerging workloads in quantum chemistry, materials discovery, combinatorial optimization, and climate modeling. We conclude by highlighting open challenges in building scalable, reliable, and programmable quantum-classical infrastructures that seamlessly connect global users to heterogeneous compute resources for future quantum-classical HPC ecosystems.
Quantum computing is entering an era where quantum processing units (QPUs) with tens to hundreds of qubits are increasingly integrated with high-performance computing (HPC) systems to support hybrid quantum-classical workloads. This paradigm, often referred to as Quantum-Centric SuperComputing (QCSC), introduces new operational, software, and infrastructure challenges. In this paper, we identify and characterize six distinct personas involved in QCSC environments. Particular attention is given to emerging roles that arise at the interface between quantum and HPC systems. We analyze the responsibilities and tools associated with each persona and examine their differing requirements for operational data. Consistent data representations and analytics frameworks will be required to support diverse users across the quantum-HPC ecosystem. By defining personas and their data needs, we provide a foundation for future discussions in this critical area.
High-performance computing (HPC) has evolved over decades through multiple architectural transitions, from vector supercomputers to massively parallel CPU clusters and GPU-accelerated systems, continuously expanding the frontier of scientific discovery. With the emergence of quantum processing units (QPUs) as practical computational accelerators, a new opportunity arises to further extend this trajectory by integrating quantum and classical computing paradigms. Building on the emerging vision of Quantum Integrated High-Performance Computing (QHPC), this paper contributes a full-stack layered architecture that integrates QPUs as first-class accelerators within, not merely alongside, the classical HPC software and hardware stack, with tight, on-premise quantum–classical coupling as its defining characteristic. The architecture comprises of unified resource management, quantum-aware scheduling, hybrid workflow orchestration, middleware and programming abstraction, interconnect technologies, and a tiered execution model enabling seamless workload partitioning across classical and quantum backends. A central aspect of this architecture is a strong user requests abstraction layer that exposes heterogeneous resources through a unified job submission interface, similar in spirit to existing schedulers such as Slurm, allowing users to describe workloads in a consistent template independent of underlying compute type or location. Drawing insights from prior accelerator integration eras, we outline how QHPC can support emerging workloads in quantum chemistry, materials discovery, combinatorial optimization, and climate modeling. We conclude by highlighting open challenges in building scalable, reliable, and programmable quantum–classical infrastructures that seamlessly connect global users to heterogeneous compute resources for future quantum–classical HPC ecosystems.
Quantum computing is important for science and industry as it offers the potential to solve certain complex problems and perform calculations significantly faster than classical computers. Quantum computing systems evolved from monolithic systems towards modular architectures comprising multiple quantum processing units (QPUs) coupled to classical computing nodes (HPC). With the increasing scale, middleware systems that facilitate the efficient coupling of quantum-classical computing are becoming critical. Through an in-depth analysis of quantum applications, integration patterns and systems, we identified a gap in understanding Quantum-HPC middleware systems. We present a conceptual middleware to facilitate reasoning about quantum-classical integration and serve as the basis for a future middleware system. A key contribution of this paper lies in leveraging well-established high-performance computing abstractions for managing workloads, tasks, and resources to seamlessly integrate quantum computing into HPC systems.
I n this presentation we will first talk about the different classes of quantum algorithms currently in use. We will then discuss some hybrid (Quantum + Classical) algorithms in use today, notably the variational quantum algorithms (VQAs). The VQAs could be used in a wide range of applications. We will then discuss the limitations of these algorithms and the need for other approaches. Quantum centric supercomputing (QCSC) is an idea where Quantum algorithms in Quantum hardware work in tandem with classical algorithms in high-performance computers. We will discuss the different varieties of Quantum + HPC workloads. Finally, we will discuss a use-case where Quantum + HPC has been used to solve a chemistry problem. We will end the presentation showing IBM’s roadmap in achieving QCSC.
Heterogeneous high-performance computing (HPC) systems offer novel architectures accommodating specialized processors that accelerate specific workloads. Near-term quantum computing technologies are poised to benefit applications as wide-ranging as quantum chemistry, machine learning, and optimization. A novel approach to scale these applications with future heterogeneous HPC is to enhance conventional computing systems with quantum processor accelerators. We present the eXtreme-scale ACCelerator programming model (XACC) to enable near-term quantum acceleration within existing conventional HPC applications and workflows. We design and demonstrate the XACC programming model within the C++ language by following a coprocessor machine model akin to the design of OpenCL or CUDA for GPUs. However, we take into account the subtleties and complexities inherent to the interplay between conventional and quantum processing hardware. The XACC framework provides a high-level API that enables applications to offload computational work represented as quantum kernels for execution on an attached quantum accelerator. Our approach is agnostic to the quantum programming language and the quantum processor hardware, which enables quantum programs to be ported to multiple processors for benchmarking, verification and validation, and performance studies. This includes a set of virtual numerical simulators as well as actual quantum processing units. The XACC programming model and its reference implementation may serve as a foundation for future HPC-ready applications, data structures, and libraries using conventional-quantum hybrid computing.