The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre has made a deal with NVIDIA to enhance its quantum computing capabilities. 

By acquiring NVIDIA's CUDA Quantum platform, Pawsey will integrate advanced technology into its National Supercomputing and Quantum Computing Innovation Hub. 

The CUDA Quantum platform, known for its open-source hybrid quantum computing capabilities, enables researchers to run quantum workloads seamlessly alongside traditional high-performance computing systems. 

This integration facilitates the development of hybrid algorithms that split calculations between classical and quantum kernels, optimising computational efficiency.

“Pawsey Centre’s research and test-bed facility is helping to advance scientific exploration for all of Australia as well as the world,” says the centre's executive director, Mark Stickells.

“NVIDIA’s CUDA Quantum platform will allow our scientists to push the boundaries of what’s possible in quantum computing research.”

The initiative will focus on a range of quantum computing applications, including quantum machine learning, chemistry simulations, image processing for radio astronomy, financial analysis, bioinformatics, and the development of specialised quantum simulators. 

The research will kick off with an exploration of various quantum variational algorithms.

Pawsey's configuration of the CUDA Quantum platform will feature eight nodes based on NVIDIA's Grace Hopper HPC-scale CPU/GPU superchip. 

The chip merges the Grace CPU with an H100 Tensor Core GPU into a single package, eliminating the traditional need for a PCIe connection between the GPU and CPU. 

This design significantly enhances the bandwidth between GPU and CPU, promising up to ten times higher performance for data-intensive applications.

Tim Costa, director of HPC and quantum computing at NVIDIA, highlighted the importance of high-performance simulation in quantum computing research, noting; “CUDA Quantum, together with the NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip, allows innovators such as Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre to achieve essential breakthroughs and accelerate the timeline to useful quantum-integrated supercomputing”.

The partnership between Pawsey and NVIDIA is expected to significantly impact Australia's quantum computing landscape. 

According to CSIRO, the domestic market opportunity from quantum computing could be worth $2.5 billion annually in revenue, potentially creating 10,000 new jobs by 2040. 

The integration of quantum computing across various scientific domains, including astronomy, life sciences, medicine, and finance, will be crucial to realising these benefits.