IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in quantum computing and networking, has announced the successful completion of an industry-first demonstration of an end-to-end application workflow utilizing the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform in combination with IonQ’s advanced quantum computing hardware. This achievement, presented jointly at SC24, showcases how the platform seamlessly integrates hybrid quantum-classical approaches to calculate key properties of a molecule’s electronic structure. These approaches hold significant potential for applications in chemistry, such as understanding how drug molecules interact with specific proteins in the human body. The demonstration highlights IonQ’s commitment to developing solutions that combine the power of quantum processing units (QPUs) with the accelerated, heterogeneous computing capabilities of NVIDIA CUDA-Q.
“IonQ is accelerating AI, scientific computing, and other high-performance workloads with quantum hardware, enabling solutions to problems once considered unsolvable,” said Dean Kassmann, SVP of Engineering & Technology at IonQ. “This molecular modeling demonstration demonstrates why CUDA-Q is an ideal platform for seamlessly integrating with our quantum hardware to deliver exceptional performance.”
Since 2023, IonQ has supported NVIDIA CUDA-Q, a powerful open-source software stack designed for hybrid quantum-classical computing. CUDA-Q enables the integration and programming of QPUs and GPUs within a single unified workflow. This demonstration utilized IonQ Forte, the IonQ Hybrid Services suite, CUDA-Q, and NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs, all of which can be deployed in cloud and on-prem environments.
The SC24 demonstration reveals a novel, resource-efficient method for exploring the properties of specific molecules, which could be applied to broader workflows in the pharmaceutical and other commercial sectors. This work paves the way for IonQ to enhance its ability to model molecular dynamics for biopharmaceutical applications in the future.
“Successful quantum applications will need to leverage both quantum hardware and AI supercomputing capabilities,” said Elica Kyoseva, Director of Quantum Algorithm Engineering at NVIDIA. “CUDA-Q is enabling researchers and developers to explore these possibilities by combining NVIDIA’s accelerated computing with IonQ’s quantum processors.”
This announcement reinforces IonQ’s dedication to advancing hardware and software solutions that combine quantum and classical computing to deliver efficient, high-performance, and scalable solutions for real-world applications.
IonQ’s Hybrid Services suite simplifies the design and deployment of quantum-accelerated applications using IonQ’s cutting-edge quantum hardware. The suite offers a flexible, easy-to-configure hybrid infrastructure, workflow management, and scheduling for both cloud and on-prem installations. It also provides powerful tools for application developers to explore new use cases, including prebuilt solvers for problems like quadratic optimization and graph partitioning, as well as out-of-the-box support for various programming models, including NVIDIA CUDA-Q quantum kernels.
