India Quantum Computing: India’s quantum computing ‘reference facility’ expected in 3 years: C-DAC official

In a bid to drive India’s quantum computing revolution, a “reference facility” on quantum and high-speed computing is expected to be operational over the next three years in Bangalore, a senior scientist of the C-DAC said on Tuesday. Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.

“The research on quantum computing has been ongoing for several years by various institutions, including us. The Quantum Reference Facility is coming up at the C-DAC facility in Bangalore,” said A S Murty, senior scientist and Kolkata head of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

The scientist was speaking on the sidelines of the International Symposium on Quantum Computing (ISQCI 2024) held in Kolkata.

C-DAC is the premier research and development organisation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for carrying out R&D in IT, Electronics and associated areas.

There are three components of the reference facility project – importing components, assembling, and developing software and applications, C-DAC North East head Jitesh Choudhary said.

“It is estimated that the entire process will take about three years to complete and make it fully operational,” Choudhary said.

This facility will enable measurement and benchmarking of quantum computing developments in India, he added. The government has sanctioned about Rs 70-80 crore for the project. Officials noted that several C-DAC centres across the country are contributing to the project in areas such as operating systems, middleware, security, and algorithms.

India’s National Quantum Mission (NQM) recently also selected premier institutions to establish Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) for quantum research and innovation, aiming to position the country at the forefront of global quantum technology advancements.

Murty said that C-DAC is working towards integrating high-performance computing with quantum computing.

“We have already developed high-performance computers, and now we will work on bridging them with quantum computing,” he said.

He also highlighted that C-DAC is providing AI-based imagery sensing solutions to the Indian Railways to identify criminals operating primarily on trains.