Supercomputing centers around the world are bringing quantum processors into high performance computing environments to explore how they might complement conventional hardware. The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) is joining that trend with TangleLab, a hybrid quantum-classical system backed by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant.
PSC announced this week that it will build TangleLab with HPE, Rigetti Computing and the University of Pittsburgh. The system will combine a Rigetti quantum processor with HPE servers, GPUs, storage and networking. Construction is scheduled to begin September 1 at PSC’s new data center, with full operations expected in 2027.
Researchers will use TangleLab to benchmark applications that use both quantum and classical resources. They will study the full hybrid computing workflow, including preprocessing, compilation, workload management and orchestration. PSC said it will also be used to investigate use cases where a quantum processor may offer advantages over purely classical machines and assess whether those advantages translate into practical gains for HPC workflows.
TangleLab’s quantum component will be Rigetti’s Novera, a nine-qubit superconducting processor (QPU) built for on-prem research. Quantum processors are often accessed remotely through cloud services, but Novera can be installed at a research facility and paired with the cryogenic equipment and control systems needed to operate it. For the PSC testbed, the QPU will be connected to HPE ProLiant Compute DL384 Gen12 and DL385 Gen11 servers, HPE Cray Storage Systems C500 and HPE networking. The classical side will also include GPUs for AI workloads and accelerated simulations.
PSC is one of many computing centers testing how locally installed quantum processors can fit into existing supercomputing infrastructure. Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently installed a 20-qubit IQM quantum computer that will connect to an HPC testbed and support development of an open software stack for hybrid computing. In Europe, EuroHPC is coupling six quantum computers based on several different quantum technologies with six existing supercomputers. Pilot access to the first systems in that infrastructure opened in June, including Germany’s Euro-Q-Exa and Czechia’s VLQ, both based on superconducting qubits, along with France’s Lucy, which uses photonic qubits, and Poland’s Piast-Q, which uses trapped-ion qubits.
TangleLab will give PSC a dedicated quantum hardware platform, extending its earlier work in quantum algorithms and simulation and drawing on four decades of national supercomputing experience. PSC became the fifth center approved through NSF’s original supercomputing initiative in 1986, when its first system was a Cray X-MP. PSC said it has worked with heterogeneous supercomputers since 1991, building systems that speed up computations by directing different parts of a problem to the processors best suited to handle them.
Bruno Abreu, PSC’s deputy scientific director, said TangleLab is not intended as a standalone quantum computer, but as an open prototype for a future when quantum processing and the distribution of quantum information are built into advanced computing infrastructure.
PSC plans to allocate time on TangleLab through a competitive proposal process, with dedicated access available for individual research projects and real-time use for classes and workshops. The center will also provide onboarding, training and research consulting to help users with different levels of quantum computing experience work with the system.
