IBM量子挺进由Arm驱动的Fugaku超级计算机

日本基于 Arm 的Fugaku  超级计算机将与 IBM 新开发的量子系统配对使用。此举是一个未来计算系统研究和开发项目的一部分。

The move was announced by Big Blue, which said it has an agreement with Japan's RIKEN governmental scientific research institute to deploy an IBM Quantum System Two and integrate it with the Fugaku supercomputer at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe.

俗称“大蓝”的 IBM 日前宣布了这一举措并表示已与日本政府科学研究机构理化学研究所（RIKEN）达成协议，将在神户的理化学研究所计算科学中心部署 IBM 量子系统II（Quantum System Two）并将其与 Fugaku 超级计算机进行整合。

This combination is intended to enable quantum-centric supercomputing, which IBM sees as the future for traditional HPC, where quantum will become an integral part of the architecture. Well, assuming quantum computing is a viable technology in practical terms.

IBM 量子系统II 与 Fugaku 超级计算机组队是为了实现以量子为中心的超级计算。IBM 视其为传统 HPC（高性能计算）的未来。量子将成为该架构不可分割的一部分。当然，前提是量子计算确实是一项切实可行的技术。

Fugaku was built by Fujitsu using 152,064 of its custom-designed A64FX processor chips, and was the most powerful known supercomputer in the world from 2020 until it was surpassed by the Frontier exascale system in 2022.

Fugaku 是富士通公司使用 152,064 个定制设计的 A64FX 处理器芯片构建的。Fugaku 在 2020 年曾是世界上已知最强大的超级计算机。 Frontier 超大规模系统则在 2022 年超越了 Fugaku。

IBM's Quantum System Two was unveiled at the annual IBM Quantum Summit in New York in December, and is based on the company’s 133 qubit Heron quantum processor. Big Blue claimed it will be the only quantum computer to be co-located with the supercomputer Fugaku.

IBM 量子系统II 于 12 月在纽约举行的年度 IBM 量子峰会上亮相，IBM 量子系统II 基于该公司的 133 量子比特 Heron 量子处理器。IBM 称 IBM 量子系统II 将是与 Fugaku 位于同一地点的唯一一台量子计算机。

This integration is part of a project funded by the Japanese government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) that aims to demonstrate the advantages of such hybrid computational platforms for deployment as services in the future "post-5G era", and has the goal of advancing science and business in Japan.

Fugaku/IBM 量子系统II 的整合是日本政府新能源和工业技术开发组织（NEDO）一个资助项目的一部分，该项目旨在展示这种混合计算平台在未来“后 5G 时代”部署即服务的优势，项目的目标是推动日本的科学和商业发展。

On top of supplying the hardware, IBM said it will be working to develop a software stack for "generating and executing integrated quantum-classical workflows in a heterogeneous quantum-HPC hybrid computing environment." These capabilities are aimed at delivering improvements in algorithm quality and execution times.

IBM 表示除提供硬件外还将致力于开发一个软件栈，用于“在异构量子高性能计算混合计算环境中生成和执行集成量子经典工作流”。这些功能主要用于改善算法质量和执行时间。

Dr Mitsuhisa Sato, director of RIKEN's Quantum HPC Collaborative Platform Division, claimed that quantum systems are now moving from the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era towards a practical stage, as the number of qubits increases and the fidelity is improved. (A fivefold improvement in error rates is one feat claimed by IBM for the Heron processor).

理化学研究所量子 HPC 协作平台部门主任 Mitsuhisa Sato 博士声称，量子比特数在不断增加，保真度也在不断提高，量子系统正从有噪中等规模量子（NISQ）时代迈向实用阶段。（IBM 宣称 Heron 处理器取得的一项成就就是错误率改进了五倍）。

"From the HPC's point of view, quantum computers are devices that accelerate scientific applications conventionally executed on supercomputers and enable computations that cannot yet be solved by supercomputers," he said.

他表示，“量子计算机从高性能计算的角度来看是一种设备，可以加快传统上在超级计算机上执行的科学应用计算并完成一些在超级计算机上尚无法解决的计算。”

RIKEN is committed to developing software for quantum-HPC hybrid computing, building on the institute's scientific research capabilities and experience in the development and operation of supercomputers like Fugaku, Dr Mitsuhisa stated.

Mitsuhisa 博士表示，理化学研究所致力于开发用于量子-HPC 混合计算的软件，该研究所的科研能力以及在开发和运行 Fugaku 等超级计算机方面的经验为开发这些软件提供了很好的基础。

IBM also hailed the new development, claiming that it marks a "monumental milestone in the journey towards a future defined by quantum-centric supercomputing."

IBM 也对这一新进展表示欢迎，称这标志着“通向以量子为中心的超级计算未来之旅的一个重大里程碑”。

"This work will advance the industry towards a modular and flexible architecture that combines quantum computation and communication with classical computing resources, so that both paradigms can work together to solve increasingly complex problems," said IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum, Jay Gambetta.

IBM 研究员兼 IBM 量子部门副总裁 Jay Gambetta 表示，“这项工作将推动行业朝着模块化和灵活的架构发展，这样的架构将量子计算和通信与经典计算资源相结合，两种计算范式能够协同工作，可以解决一些日益复杂的问题。”

Japan appears to be taking this challenge seriously, as this is not the only investment the nation is making in hybrid quantum-classical compute platforms.

日本看起来是在认真对待这一挑战，该国这次在量子经典混合计算平台方面的投资并不是唯一的投资。

Quantum outfit QuEra Computing said it has been awarded a ¥6.5 billion (.4 million) contract by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) for one of its systems to be deployed alongside an Nvidia-powered ABCI-Q supercomputer.

量子计算公司 QuEra Computing 表示，公司已获得日本国家先进工业科学技术研究所（AIST）一份价值 65 亿日元（约合 4140 万美元）的合同，旗下的一套系统将与 Nvidia 驱动的 ABCI-Q 超级计算机部署在一起。

The ABCI-Q system is hoped to be a platform for the advancement of quantum circuit simulation and quantum machine learning, the building of classical-quantum hybrid systems, and the development of new algorithms inspired by quantum technology, QuEra said.

QuEra表示，ABCI-Q 系统有望成为量子电路仿真和量子机器学习的平台、构建经典-量子混合系统以及开发受量子技术启发的新算法。