RIKEN and Quantinuum have upgraded the Reimei quantum computer in Japan to a 56-qubit system, expanding research that combines quantum computing, artificial intelligence and supercomputing for scientific and industrial applications.
The Japanese research institute said Nov. 10 that Reimei now runs Quantinuum’s System Model H2 and has 56 fully connected qubits. The partners plan to explore applications in electronics, energy and life sciences. RIKEN said the platform is intended to help researchers study complex quantum systems that are difficult to simulate using classical computing alone.
The collaboration also includes research for RIKEN’s AI for Science initiative and work with Japanese universities and suppliers toward a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Mitsuhisa Sato, division director of the Quantum-HPC Hybrid Platform Division at RIKEN’s Center for Computational Science, said the upgrade would help researchers tackle “more complex and larger-scale scientific problems.”
Quantinuum said two projects are using the upgraded system. For a materials study, researchers are using quantum data generated by Reimei to train an AI model to simulate magnetism; the company described the findings as preliminary. A second project brings together Reimei and the Fugaku supercomputer with NVIDIA’s evolutionary AI agent, which runs on RIKEN’s ROQUO GPU system, to simulate a photoactive biomolecule.
Separately, RIKEN, Quantinuum and SoftBank Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding to assess connecting quantum computers with AI data centers in Japan. The partners will examine infrastructure readiness and whether such links could support commercial hybrid computing services. They have announced neither a service launch date nor a commitment to offer one.
Reimei operates under the JHPC-quantum project, supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Quantinuum expects regular operations under a Test User Program to begin after the two research projects conclude, but has not announced a date.
