SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Just six months after two representatives of PenFed Credit Union cautioned other CU leaders of the coming risks from quantum computing, NVIDA has announced what it called the first open-source family of quantum AI models aimed at accelerating the development of practical quantum computing systems, according to a company press release.
Earlier, Edward B. Cody and Elle Westbrook of PenFed have warned the risk from quantum computing to cybersecurity was coming faster than many in CUs realize. Cody is the chair of PenFed and was formerly part of a defense agency cyber team.
Now, the new platform, known as NVIDIA Ising, is designed to help researchers and enterprises address key challenges in building scalable quantum processors, including calibration and quantum error correction, according to the company.
This is the first in a two-part series on what is known as “Q Day,” the day day when people, perhaps adversaries, will have access to a quantum computer that can break cryptographic codes that are in use.
NVIDIA said advances in those areas are critical to enabling useful quantum applications at scale, adding that artificial intelligence will play a central role in improving the reliability of quantum systems. The company said its open-model approach allows developers to build AI tools while maintaining control over data and infrastructure.
Correcting Errors in Qubits
Named after the Ising model in physics, the system provides AI tools for calibrating quantum processors and correcting errors in qubits, the fundamental units of quantum computing. According to NVIDIA, the models can deliver up to 2.5 times faster performance and three times higher accuracy in decoding processes used for quantum error correction.
“AI is essential to making quantum computing practical,” Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, said in the release. “With Ising, AI becomes the control plane — the operating system of quantum machines — transforming fragile qubits to scalable and reliable quantum-GPU systems.”
NVIDIA cited estimates from analyst firm Resonance that the quantum computing market could exceed $11 billion by 2030, with progress dependent on solving engineering hurdles such as scalability and error correction.
What’s Included
According to NVIDIA, the Ising platform includes:
- Ising Calibration: A vision-language model that interprets quantum processor measurements and automates calibration, reducing timelines from days to hours.
- Ising Decoding: Neural network models optimized for speed or accuracy that perform real-time error correction, outperforming existing open-source standards, according to NVIDIA.
The company said the technology is already being adopted by a range of organizations, including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and IonQ, among others.
Tools Provided
NVIDIA said it is also providing tools, training data and microservices to help developers customize the models for different quantum hardware systems, with the ability to run locally to protect proprietary data.
The Ising models integrate with NVIDIA’s existing quantum and AI ecosystem, including its CUDA-Q software platform and NVQLink hardware interconnect, the company said.
The company further said the launch expands NVIDIA’s portfolio of open models, which also includes platforms for robotics, autonomous vehicles and biomedical research.
