Turning quantum bottlenecks into breakthroughs

Quantum computers have operated under a significant limitation: they can run only one program at a time. These million-dollar machines demand exclusive use even for the smallest tasks, leaving much of their expensive and fast-running hardware idle and forcing researchers to endure long queues.

Columbia Engineering researchers have developed HyperQ, a novel system that enables multiple users to share a single quantum computer simultaneously through isolated quantum virtual machines (qVMs). This key development brings quantum computing closer to real-world usability—more practical, efficient, and broadly accessible.

“HyperQ brings cloud-style virtualization to quantum computing,” said Jason Nieh, professor of computer science at Columbia Engineering and co-director of the Software Systems Laboratory. “It lets a single machine run multiple programs at once—no interference, no waiting in line.”

Overcoming a fundamental bottleneck

This approach marks a dramatic shift from the traditional one-user-at-a-time model. By dynamically allocating quantum resources and intelligently scheduling jobs, HyperQ analyzes each program’s needs and steers them to the best parts of the quantum chip, so multiple tasks can run at once without slowing each other down.

Much like how cloud servers revolutionized classical computing by maximizing efficiency and scalability, HyperQ aims to bring the same transformative potential to quantum computing, enabling broader access, faster turnaround times, and more productive use of limited quantum resources.

This new work directed by Nieh and Ronghui Gu, Tang Family Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia, is set to be presented July 8 at the 19th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI '25) July 7–9, 2025, in Boston.

A new layer of quantum control

HyperQ is a software layer, a hypervisor, inspired by the virtualization technology that powers modern cloud computing. It divides a physical quantum computer's hardware into multiple, smaller, isolated quantum virtual machines. A scheduler then acts like a master Tetris player, packing multiple of these qVMs together to run simultaneously on different parts of the machine.

The researchers ran a prototype of HyperQ on IBM’s biggest quantum computers through the IBM Quantum cloud. It's the first to introduce and implement the concept of virtual machines for multiplexing actual quantum computer hardware, note the researchers. 

“Previous efforts required specialized compilers and needed to know exactly which programs would run together ahead of time,” said Runzhou Tao, lead author of the paper and former Columbia PhD in the Software Systems Laboratory. “Our approach works dynamically with existing quantum programming tools, which is far more flexible and practical for real-world use.”

The system reduced average user wait times by up to 40 times, transforming turnaround times from days to mere hours. It also enabled up to a tenfold increase in the number of quantum programs executed in the same time frame, ensuring much higher utilization of expensive quantum hardware. Remarkably, HyperQ’s intelligent scheduling could even enhance computational accuracy by steering sensitive workloads away from the noisiest regions of the quantum chip, Gu noted.

Broad impact across industries

The potential of HyperQ’s success is far-reaching. For quantum cloud providers such as IBM, Google, and Amazon, the technology offers a powerful way to serve more users with existing hardware infrastructure, increasing both capacity and cost-effectiveness.

For academic researchers and industry researchers, HyperQ means much faster access to quantum computing resources. This acceleration could dramatically speed up work in crucial areas such as drug discovery, the development of advanced materials, and the creation of more efficient energy solutions. Ultimately, these advances have the potential to deliver significant benefits to society, from improved healthcare outcomes to more sustainable technologies.

Looking ahead

Nieh and his team plan to extend HyperQ’s capabilities to support emerging quantum computing architectures, making HyperQ flexible enough to work with all types of quantum computers, and not just on the one on which they were tested. That way, as quantum technology evolves, HyperQ can continue to help many users share quantum hardware efficiently, regardless of the underlying technology.

A new era for quantum computing

HyperQ represents a pivotal step in transforming quantum computing from a powerful yet constrained scientific tool into a practical technology poised to drive significant real-world impact.

“Instead of forcing one person to monopolize the entire machine, many users can now share quantum resources at once,” said Tao, now an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. “This changes the game for how quickly we can tackle some of the world’s most challenging problems.”

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