## JUPITER Supercomputer Simulates 50 Qubits, Breaking New Ground in Quantum Research
researchers at the Jülich Supercomputing Center, working with NVIDIA, have pushed classical computing to a new frontier by fully simulating a global 50-qubit quantum computer on Europe’s first exascale system, JUPITER.Credit: Shutterstock
The JUPITER supercomputer set a new milestone by simulating 50 qubits. New memory and compression innovations made this breakthrough possible.
A team from the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, working with NVIDIA specialists, has achieved a major milestone in quantum research. For the first time, they successfully simulated a universal quantum computer with 50 qubits, using JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, which began operation at Forschungszentrum Jülich in September.
This accomplishment breaks the previous record of 48 qubits set by Jülich scientists in 2019 on Japan’s K computer. The new result highlights the exceptional capabilities of JUPITER and provides a powerful testbed for exploring and validating quantum algorithms.
Simulating quantum computers is essential for advancing future quantum technologies. Thes simulations let researchers check experimental findings and experiment with new algorithmic approaches long before quantum hardware becomes advanced enough to run them directly.Key examples include the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE), which can analyze molecules and materials, and the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), used to improve decision-making in fields such as logistics, finance, and artificial intelligence.
Pushing the limits of classical computing
Recreating a quantum computer on conventional systems is extremely demanding. As the number of qubits grows,the number of possible quantum states rises at an exponential rate. Each added qubit doubles the amount of computing power and memory required.
Although a typical laptop can still simulate around 30 qubits,reaching 50 qubits requires about 2 petabytes of memory,which is roughly two million gigabytes. “Only the world’s largest supercompute
Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Achieves Quantum Simulation of 50 Qubits
Europe has taken a meaningful step forward in quantum computing with the Jülich supercomputing Centre’s (JSC) new quantum simulator, JUQCS-50, successfully simulating 50 qubits on the JUPITER supercomputer. This achievement, detailed in a preprint study published November 7, 2025, marks a milestone in leveraging the power of exascale computing for quantum research. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.03359
JUQCS-50 utilizes JUPITER’s heterogeneous CPU-GPU architecture to perform universal quantum simulations. This capability allows researchers to model and understand the behavior of quantum systems with increasing complexity, paving the way for advancements in materials science, drug revelation, and basic physics. Hans De Raedt, lead author of the study and researcher at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, spearheaded the work.
The simulator will be made accessible to external research institutions and companies through JUNIQ – the Jülich UNified Infrastructure for Quantum Computing. This broad access will foster collaboration and accelerate innovation in the field. Moreover, JUQCS-50 will serve as a crucial benchmark for evaluating the performance of future supercomputers in tackling quantum computing challenges.
the progress of JUQCS-50 was facilitated by the JUPITER Research and Early Access Program (JUREAP). This program enabled close collaboration between Jülich experts and NVIDIA during JUPITER’s construction, allowing for the co-design of hardware and software. “Through early collaboration, hardware and software could be co-designed during JUPITER’s construction phase, in close cooperation between Jülich experts and NVIDIA – an vital step towards realising the full potential of this exascale system,” explained Dr. Andreas Herten, a member of the Jülich JUPITER project team and co-author of the study.
JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, is a collaborative project funded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR), and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW) via the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS).https://www.jsc.fz-juelich.de/en/jupiter/
Key terms:
* Qubit: A quantum bit,the basic unit of facts in quantum computing.Unlike classical bits which represent 0 or 1, qubits can exist in a superposition of both states concurrently.
* Exascale Computing: Computing that involves performing at least one exaflop (a quintillion floating-point operations per second).
* Supercomputer: A computer with a high level of performance compared to a general-purpose computer.
* Heterogeneous Architecture: A computing system that combines different types of processors (e.g., CPUs and gpus) to optimize performance for various tasks.