Based on Huawei cloud's powerful computing capability, HiQ provides cloud services with both full and single-amplitude simulations. Specifically, the HiQ platform can simulate quantum circuits with at least 42-qubits for full-amplitude simulations, and at least 81 qubits for single amplitudes. In addition, for low-depth circuits, the qubit number can reach 169 for single-amplitude simulations. It is the best cloud services for quantum circuit simulation. Huawei's HiQ cloud platform for quantum computing simulation will be fully open to the public as an enabling platform for quantum research and education.
HiQ is equipped with a distributed architecture and an algorithmic optimizer to overcome challenges associated with memory capacity and network delays. Moreover, a quantum error correction simulator is integrated for the first time in a cloud service platform, which can perform simulations of stabilizer circuits with of tens of thousands of qubits with a performance improvement of 5-15 times, compared with an open-sourced counterpart.
Huawei also showcased its quantum programming framework for the first time, which is compatible with the ProjectQ. The framework can significantly improve the performance of parallelized implementation of quantum algorithms. It also provides new features such as a user-friendly quantum circuit orchestration Graphical User Interface (GUI), and an innovative Block User Interface (BlockUI), allowing hybrid classical-quantum programming in an easy and intuitive way.
"Quantum computation is a revolutionary technology that is different from classical computing," said Dr. Man-Hong Yung, Huawei's Chief Quantum Computing Software and Algorithm Scientist. "It is also a future-oriented core technology for cloud computing. Quantum algorithms provide a new perspective to AI algorithms, inspiring better classical AI algorithms and offering more powerful computing capability. Huawei has taken a critical step towards the research and innovation of quantum computing by releasing the HiQ cloud service platform, and will continue to invest in quantum computing in the future. Huawei’s HiQ will be fully open to the public, inviting developers, researchers, teachers, and students, to jointly innovate and promote technological research and industrialization of quantum computing."
Quantum computing represents an exciting computing technology for the future. For some computing tasks, it may take tens of thousands of years for classical computers, a quantum computer could complete the same task in just a few minutes, or even seconds. It can lead to a new revolution for artificial intelligence, new material design, drug development, complex optimization, and scheduling problems.
However, quantum computing has many technical challenges in terms of hardware, software, algorithms, and systems. Engineering such a complex system requires breakthroughs in hardware and control systems as well as software and algorithms.
Before the technologies of quantum computing hardware become mature, simulators of quantum computing in classical platform will play an important role in quantum circuit simulation and development and verification of quantum algorithm and software.
By releasing the quantum computing simulation cloud service platform — HiQ marks Huawei's first step in the research and innovation of quantum computing. Meanwhile, Huawei fully embraces the concept of win-win cooperation in quantum computing software. The development of HiQ would lead to technological breakthroughs in academia and promote industrial partners' research and industrialization in the field of quantum computing.