Universal quantum computer simulation of 50 qubits on Europe’s first exascale supercomputer harnessing its heterogeneous CPU–GPU architecture

We have developed a new version of the high-performance Jülich universal quantum computer simulator (JUQCS-50) that leverages key features of the GH200 superchips as used in the JUPITER supercomputer, enabling simulations of a 50-qubit universal quantum computer for the first time. JUQCS-50 achieves this through three key innovations: (1) extending usable memory beyond GPU limits via high-bandwidth CPU–GPU interconnects and LPDDR5 memory; (2) adaptive data encoding to reduce memory footprint with acceptable trade-offs in precision and compute effort; and (3) an on-the-fly network traffic optimizer. These advances result in an 16.6-fold speedup over the previous 48-qubit record on the K computer. • First-ever universal quantum simulation of 50 qubits on a supercomputer. • Executed on JUPITER, Europes first exascale system with NVIDIA GH200 superchips. • Leverages the hybrid CPU–GPU architecture of NVIDIA GH200 superchips. • Enables benchmarking of quantum algorithms at unprecedented scale. • Sets a new record for classical simulation of the dynamics of quantum systems.