NVIDIA GPUs enable large-scale quantum chip modeling on supercomputer

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California have achieved a breakthrough by simulating a next-generation quantum microchip in unprecedented detail using the Perlmutter supercomputer. This simulation leveraged over 7,000 NVIDIA GPUs to model the chip’s electromagnetic wave propagation and performance before fabrication, enabling the identification of potential issues early in the design process. The chip, developed collaboratively by UC Berkeley’s Quantum Nanoelectronics Laboratory and Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Quantum Testbed, was modeled using ARTEMIS, an exascale computing tool developed under the DOE’s Exascale Computing Project. The simulation discretized the chip—a multilayer structure measuring just 10 mm by 10 mm by 0.3 mm with micron-scale features—into 11 billion grid cells and ran over a million time steps in seven hours, allowing evaluation of multiple circuit configurations within a day. This level of physical modeling at such scale is unprecedented and required nearly the full capacity of the Perlmutter system. The researchers plan to