Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center earned NSF funding to build a new hybrid quantum-classical computer

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) will soon be home to a computer that will help researchers advance their understanding of the advantages of quantum computers. The TangleLab supercomputing testbed is supported by a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and will be built in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Rigetti Computing.

"TangleLab continues PSC's long tradition of making next-generation computing technologies accessible to the broader research and education community," said PSC's Executive Director and Pitt's Vice Chancellor for Research Computing James Barr von Oehsen, who will serve as principal investigator for TangleLab. "Through our planned partnership with HPE and Rigetti, we are giving scientists, students and educators hands-on access to an integrated quantum-classical system, advancing discovery while helping build the quantum-ready workforce the nation will need."

Co-PIs for the project will be Bruno Abreu, PSC's deputy scientific director; Bruce Childers, dean and professor at Pitt's School of Computing and Information; Masoud Mohseni, senior distinguished technologist and director of HPE Quantum at HPE Labs; and Andrew Bestwick, senior vice president of quantum systems at Rigetti Computing.

Unlike classical computers, which calculate with zeroes and ones, quantum processing units (QPUs) employ the laws of quantum mechanics to compute in terms of quantum superposition and entanglement, manipulating states that are partly zero and partly one. Scientists expect that this ability to, in a sense, "calculate between the lines," will make such devices superior to classical computers at solving certain problems in areas like chemistry, cryptography and optimization tasks.

TangleLab will be a unique, hybrid system, containing both a QPU and graphics processing units (GPUs), which excel at demanding AI tasks and accelerated simulations. Researchers employing the testbed system will investigate additional avenues in which QPUs may be superior to purely classical machines.

"Making quantum computing practical will require quantum systems to work seamlessly with high-performance computing and networking," said Mohseni. "Through TangleLab, we plan to build a testbed at PSC that lets researchers benchmark hybrid quantum-classical applications and better understand how these systems can work together from preprocessing and compilation to workload management and orchestration."

"We're excited about this opportunity to advance quantum computing through integration with HPC and how it will enable a quantum-enhanced HPC product offering that can be delivered to other organizations going forward," said Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni.

In addition to launching PSC into quantum computing research, TangleLab continues the center's longstanding experience since 1991 pioneering such heterogeneous supercomputers, which accelerate computations by routing parts of problems to different types of processors best suited to each of those parts.

"With TangleLab, we are really looking into integrating quantum technologies into classical high-performance computing environments to enable hybrid quantum-classical workflows that can display flavors of quantum utility," said Abreu. "We are not deploying a standalone quantum computer. Our goal is to make TangleLab the prototype open platform for a future where quantum information processing and distribution are core elements of advanced cyberinfrastructure."

PSC will allocate time on the computer using a flexible competitive proposal process. The goal will be to allow individual researchers to use the system in a dedicated manner when needed, while educators can also have real-time access when teaching classes and workshops. To help users of TangleLab use the device regardless of their level of experience with quantum computing, PSC will offer onboarding activities, training and in-depth research consulting.

PSC leaders expect construction of TangleLab to begin at PSC's new data center on Sept. 1, with full operations expected in 2027. PSC is a joint center of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Read more about TangleLab on the PSC site.