[Reading Science] Quantum Computers Emerging in Korea... Attempts to Combine with AI

Attempts to Realize the 'Computer of Dreams' Continue
Yonsei University Operates IBM 'Quantum System One'
Expected to Be a 'Game Changer' in Drug Development
Google Tries to Solve Quantum Error Issues with AI Integration
Hybrid Quantum Computers Emerge
NVIDIA, the AI Giant, Also Supports Quantum Computing

On the morning of the 20th, the country's first commercial-grade quantum computer, 'IBM Quantum System One,' was unveiled at the Quantum Computing Center of Yonsei University International Campus in Songdo, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Photo by Yonhap News

A dream computer that instantly handles various calculations needed for new drug development, material design, and fundamental physics. This is the quantum computer. Although it is a field struggling to catch up due to the vast gap with advanced countries, we now have the latest quantum computer as well. The IBM Quantum System One, recently put into operation at Yonsei University, is the protagonist.

It is a remarkable challenge in itself for a private university to introduce a quantum computer that requires large-scale capital investment. Both the manufacturer IBM and the user Yonsei University remain tight-lipped about the usage fees, but it is natural that a considerable amount must have been paid. Thanks to this, we can directly utilize the performance of the latest quantum computer. If we develop it ourselves, it would take time but cost less. On the other hand, it requires an equivalent opportunity cost and time. It is unclear what the correct answer is. Now, it is important to make good use of this computer to achieve results exceeding the invested cost. Additionally, there is the task of accurately understanding the current status of the latest quantum computers.

◇ The full-fledged quantum computing era begins in Korea = The quantum computer ‘IBM Quantum System One’ installed at Yonsei University’s Songdo campus by IBM had previously been installed only in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan. Korea is the fifth country to have it. Viewed on-site, the quantum computer is surrounded by glass walls, resembling an art piece displayed in a museum. This is a stark contrast to the quantum computer models seen so far, which looked like chandeliers. This computer is powered by a 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle processor. It uses the superconducting method among various quantum computer implementation methods. Naturally, various cooling devices operate around the computer to maintain -237 degrees Celsius. There is also a cooling system outside the building.

Changhee Pyo, Executive Director at IBM Korea, explained, "It has a fast calculation speed capable of simultaneously processing calculations equivalent to 2 to the power of 127 and possesses performance at the quantum utility stage." Jaehong Jung of Yonsei University’s Quantum Project Team emphasized, "The performance of a quantum computer exceeding 100 qubits is beyond what supercomputers can catch up with," and expressed expectations that it will make tremendous contributions, especially in bio and new drug development fields.

IBM is undoubtedly the leading company in the quantum computer field. Last year, it surprised the quantum industry by unveiling the ‘Condor’ processor, which surpasses 1000 qubits. IBM has been releasing quantum processors that double in speed every year. Compared to domestic projects that are only now developing 20-qubit computers around the same time, the gap is enormous.

Before unveiling the Quantum System One in Korea this year, IBM announced big news. Through the ‘Heron’ quantum processor announced last year, it became possible to accurately execute up to 5,000 two-qubit gate operations for a specific class of quantum circuits. The Heron processor focuses on solving the error problem of quantum computers. In the 2023 utility experiment published in the international journal Nature, the processing time per data took a total of 112 hours, but this time it was completed in 2.2 hours, 50 times faster. Executive Director Changhee Pyo predicted that quantum supremacy, where quantum computers surpass currently used supercomputers, will occur within three years. IBM is also pursuing an ambitious plan to develop a quantum supercomputer with 100,000 qubits.

An image depicting an AlphaQubit by Google. Source=Google Blog

◇ Google integrates AI into quantum computing = Progress has not been made only by IBM. Even bigger news came from Google, which won a Nobel Prize for artificial intelligence (AI). Google recently unveiled the ‘AlphaQubit’ system. Published in Nature as well, this system was jointly developed by Google DeepMind and the Quantum AI team. It is an AI-based decoder system that presents a revolutionary solution to the biggest challenge of quantum computers: error correction. Quantum computers accumulate errors as calculations proceed due to vulnerability to noise. To address this, Google employed the transformer model used in the latest large language models (LLM). The transformer, developed by Google, marked a significant turning point in AI development. AlphaQubit improved error detection accuracy by more than 50% compared to existing methods, which is expected to greatly accelerate the realization of practical quantum computers.

A dark horse has recently appeared in the quantum field: Nvidia. Nvidia, which played a decisive role in AI development, actively expressed interest in the quantum field at the SC24 event held recently in Atlanta, USA. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and Ian Buck, Head and Vice President of Accelerated Computing, announced cooperation with Google and IonQ. They are receiving computational assistance to solve quantum error problems using Nvidia’s CUDA Quantum technology. This approach realistically acknowledges that the quantum camp emphasizing quantum supremacy needs support from supercomputers. It means that without supercomputers using powerful GPUs, designing accurate quantum computers early on is difficult.

◇ Fusion of quantum computers and supercomputers = Traditional supercomputers perform complex calculations through large-scale parallel processing, while quantum computers use quantum mechanical properties to solve specific problems innovatively. The current highest-performance supercomputer, El Capitan at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, can process 1.73 exaFLOPS per second. There is no computer faster than this one worldwide at present. However, quantum computers have the potential to surpass supercomputers in specific areas such as encryption, new drug development, and climate modeling. Because of this, the possibility of mutual complementarity is also highlighted.

IBM’s quantum-centric supercomputing vision attempts to combine the advantages of quantum computers and supercomputers to achieve a new level of computing performance. This is a hybrid approach that effectively combines quantum computers and conventional classical computers, focusing on practical problem-solving. Another quantum computer company, IonQ, introduced a hybrid quantum computer using a similar method.