Qubit Pharmaceuticals, Sorbonne University Simulate Quantum Calculations of More Than 40 Qubits on Conventional Computers

Insider Brief

• Qubit Pharmaceuticals’  Hyperion-1 emulator demonstrates running accelerated and accurate quantum algorithms at over 40 qubits.
• The device was developed in close collaboration with Sorbonne University.
• The company hopes Hyperion-1 can help slash drug discovery times in half and will accelerate the development of quantum algorithms for real industry applications.

PRESS RELEASE — Qubit Pharmaceuticals, a deeptech company specializing in the discovery of new drug candidates through molecular simulation and modeling accelerated by hybrid HPC and quantum computing, announces a major scientific breakthrough after achieving quantum computations simulating 40 qubits with its new Hyperion-1 emulator.

“This is an exact simulation of 40 logic qubits carried out at very high velocity, which is an unprecedented achievement in the application of quantum computation, in particular to quantum chemistry,” said Jean-Philip Piquemal, Director of the Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique Sorbonne Université/CNRS, co-founder and Scientific Director of Qubit Pharmaceuticals, and head of the team that developed Hyperion-1.

Such a level of performance places Qubit Pharmaceuticals among the world’s leading actors in quantum computing, all the more so as it was achieved without approximation and with the highest level of fidelity, i.e. without error (or “noise”, to use the prevailing expression in quantum physics) and in a very short time, close to what one would expect from a true quantum computer. This performance was achieved in partnership with Sorbonne University’s Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, and the calculations were carried out in just a few hours on the Jean Zay HPC/IA converged supercomputer on 16 computing nodes 128 GPUs1 A100 NVIDIA) at the IDRIS computing center (GENCI and CNRS), on which the Hyperion-1 emulator was developed.

The ultimate objective: cut the time needed to select a drug candidate by half.

This achievement reinforces Qubit Pharmaceuticals’ ambition to become the industry reference in molecular modeling-based drug discovery. The result of academic research carried out by internationally renowned scientists² in France and the United States, Qubit Pharmaceuticals models molecules and simulates their interactions to identify more effective and safer drug candidates. The aim is to halve the time needed to select and optimize a candidate of interest, and more than 10-fold the investment required. This process requires immense computing capacities, available today with supercomputers and multiplied tomorrow with quantum computers.

Key benefits of Hyperion-1, the new emulator from Qubit Pharmaceuticals

• Revolutionary simulations: Hyperion-1 is capable of achieving 40 qubit (and more) converged simulations in production without error or noise, setting new standards of precision in quantum research.Capacité de traitement massivement parallèle : Grâce à son émulation d’un ordinateur quantique sur une architecture classique accélérée par des GPUs⁽¹⁾, Hyperion-1 offre une précision exceptionnelle et une capacité de traitement massivement parallèle capable de concentrer la puissance de calcul classique.
• Exceptional performance: Hyperion-1 has demonstrated outstanding performance in high-speed simulations of complex quantum circuits of up to 40 qubits, using moderate computing resources, i.e. 16 Jean Zay nodes each accelerated by 8 NVIDIA A100 GPUs. This increased speed makes it possible to converge quantum chemistry simulations requiring hundreds of algorithm iterations.
• Advanced technology: Featuring optimized internal code based on a mathematical library that is proprietary and agnostic, i.e. able to use any type of supercomputer, Hyperion-1 uses parallel acceleration via MPI and takes full advantage of the new generation of NVIDIA DGX-A100 accelerated nodes for enhanced performance.

Robert Marino, CEO Qubit Pharmaceuticals, states: “These quantum chemistry calculations on 40 exact qubits far exceed the performance achieved to date in Europe, and place Qubit Pharmaceuticals on the same footing as some of the top American tech giants. This breakthrough enables us to carry out in a few hours calculations that traditionally take several months.”

Jean-Philip Piquemal, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Qubit Pharmaceuticals, states:

“Hyperion-1 allows quantum state simulation while benefiting from the stability of classical computers, thus avoiding the errors inherent in today’s quantum computers.  Thanks to the GPUs in our machines and GENCI’s infrastructure, we are able to develop and validate new quantum algorithms applied to drug discovery – a field of research with real public utility.”