Hybrid quantum-classical workflows combine quantum processing units (QPUs) with classical hardware to address computational tasks that are challenging or infeasible for conventional systems alone. Coordinating these heterogeneous resources at scale demands robust orchestration, reproducibility, and observability. Even in the presence of fault-tolerant quantum devices, quantum computing will continue to operate within a broader hybrid ecosystem, where classical infrastructure plays a central role in task scheduling, data movement, error mitigation, and large-scale workflow coordination.
In this work, we present a cloud-native framework for managing hybrid quantum-HPC pipelines using Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, and Kueue. Our system unifies CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs under a single orchestration layer, enabling multi-stage workflows with dynamic, resource-aware scheduling. We demonstrate the framework with a proof-of-concept implementation of distributed quantum circuit cutting, showcasing execution across heterogeneous nodes and integration of classical and quantum tasks. This approach highlights the potential for scalable, reproducible, and flexible hybrid quantum-classical computing in cloud-native environments.
Hybrid quantum-classical workflows combine quantum processing units (QPUs) with classical hardware to address computational tasks that are challenging or infeasible for conventional systems alone. Coordinating these heterogeneous resources at scale demands robust orchestration, reproducibility, and observability. Even in the presence of fault-tolerant quantum devices, quantum computing will continue to operate within a broader hybrid ecosystem, where classical infrastructure plays a central role in task scheduling, data movement, error mitigation, and large-scale workflow coordination.
In this work, we present a cloud-native framework for managing hybrid quantum-HPC pipelines using Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, and Kueue. Our system unifies CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs under a single orchestration layer, enabling multi-stage workflows with dynamic, resource-aware scheduling. We demonstrate the framework with a proof-of-concept implementation of distributed quantum circuit cutting, showcasing execution across heterogeneous nodes and integration of classical and quantum tasks. This approach highlights the potential for scalable, reproducible, and flexible hybrid quantum-classical computing in cloud-native environments.
The integration of quantum computing technologies with established classical infrastructure represents a transformative advancement in computational capabilities. This manuscript addresses architectural frameworks enabling seamless orchestration between quantum and classical environments through container-based methodologies. Kubernetes extensions provide standardized interfaces for managing hybrid workloads while ensuring reproducibility across experimental iterations. Custom resource definitions facilitate quantum job specifications with appropriate hardware requirements, while specialized operators handle complex scheduling demands inherent to quantum processing. Implementation architectures demonstrate enhanced resource utilization through dynamic allocation mechanisms that accommodate both paradigms simultaneously. Practical evaluations reveal substantial improvements in workflow automation when orchestration platforms coordinate quantum simulators alongside cloud-based quantum processing units. The extensibility of container-based solutions proves particularly valuable for enterprises navigating evolving quantum hardware landscapes. The technological foundation described establishes a robust framework for quantum-classical integration while addressing security and deployment considerations. Findings indicate strategic advantages in adopting containerized approaches for quantum workflow management, particularly regarding experimental reproducibility and resource optimization across heterogeneous computing environments.
Hybrid quantum-classical applications pose significant resource management challenges due to heterogeneity and dynamism in both infrastructure and workloads. Quantum-HPC environments integrate quantum processing units (QPUs) with diverse classical resources (CPUs, GPUs), while applications span coupling patterns from tightly coupled execution to loosely coupled task parallelism with varying resource requirements. Traditional HPC schedulers lack visibility into application semantics and cannot respond to fluctuating resource availability at runtime. This paper presents a middleware-based approach for adaptive resource, workload, and task management in hybrid quantum-HPC systems. We make four contributions: (i) a conceptual four-layer middleware architecture that decomposes management across workflow, workload, task, and resource levels, enabling application-aware scheduling over heterogeneous quantum-HPC resources; (ii) a set of execution motifs capturing interaction and coupling characteristics of hybrid applications, realized as quantum mini-apps for systematic workload characterization; (iii) Pilot-Quantum, a middleware framework built on the pilot abstraction that enables late binding and dynamic resource allocation, adapting to resource and workload dynamics at runtime; and (iv) Q-Dreamer, a performance modeling toolkit providing reusable components for informed workload partitioning, including a circuit-cutting optimizer that analytically derives optimal partitioning strategies. Evaluation on heterogeneous HPC platforms (Perlmutter, NVIDIA DGX with H100/B200 GPUs) demonstrates efficient multi-backend orchestration across CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs for diverse execution motifs. Q-Dreamer predicts optimal circuit cutting configurations with up to 82% accuracy.
Quantum Machine Learning (QML) approaches introduce unique computational requirements that continuously emerge, from data encoding to model training, from data preparation to model deployment, thus spanning a wide range of possible scenarios. In contrast with classical machine learning, they require dynamic coordination of classical and quantum resources, such as the choice between real quantum processing units or simulators. Unfortunately, traditional MLOps frameworks, built around classical ML workflows, fail to accommodate this dynamic need for quantum resources throughout the pipeline. To address this limitation, we propose an MLOps framework that leverages cloud-native infrastructure, based on container orchestration, to support quantum-classical ML workflows, with dynamic allocation of quantum and classical resources, computational paradigm-agnostic orchestration, and flexible workflow management. These foundational factors unlock the potential of quantum machine learning through elastic hybrid architectures. Built on top of Kubernetes, our framework enables flexible allocation of quantum resources at any stage, without disrupting classical MLOps workflows and, consequently, ensuring traditional peculiarities, such as data and model versioning. This framework we design ensures consistent operations and fosters reproducibility across hybrid environments under a single infrastructure, hence providing a guiding framework for future-ready quantum-classical machine learning 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.
The emergence of quantum computing proposes a revolutionary paradigm that can radically transform numerous scientific and industrial application domains. The ability of quantum computers to scale computations beyond what the current computers are capable of implies better performance and efficiency for certain algorithmic tasks. However, to benefit from such improvement, quantum computers must be integrated with existing software systems, a process that is not straightforward. In this paper, we propose a unified execution model that addresses the challenges that emerge from building hybrid classical-quantum applications at scale. Following the Design Science Research methodology, we proposed a convention for mapping quantum resources and artifacts to Kubernetes concepts. Then, in an experimental Kubernetes cluster, we conducted experiments for scheduling and executing quantum tasks on both quantum simulators and hardware. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed platform Qubernetes (or Kubernetes for quantum) exposes the quantum computation tasks and hardware capabilities following established cloud-native principles, allowing seamless integration into the larger Kubernetes ecosystem. The quantum computing potential cannot be realized without seamless integration into classical computing. By validating that it is practical to execute quantum tasks in a Kubernetes infrastructure, we pave the way for leveraging the existing Kubernetes ecosystem as an enabler for hybrid classical-quantum computing.
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.