IBM and RIKEN Demonstrate Closed-Loop Quantum-Centric Supercomputing Using Fugaku – HPCwire

Feb. 23, 2026 — RIKEN and IBM have achieved a new milestone in quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC). A joint research team used the entirety of one of the world’s leading high-performance computing systems—the pre-exascale supercomputer Fugaku—in concert with RIKEN’s on-premises IBM Quantum Heron processor to calculate the electronic structure of a pair of complex iron-sulfur molecules. The result was the largest and most accurate chemistry experiment ever performed on a quantum computer, which IBM Director of Research Jay Gambetta presented Jan. 29 at Supercomputing Asia 2026.

This work, described in an October 2025 paper on the arXiv, is the first demonstration of quantum and HPC working together this closely at this scale. Orchestrating them required the development of a new closed-loop workflow, where the supercomputer…