IBM's push to realize the dream of quantum computing

Tuesday - May 23 2023, 13:24 UTC - 1 year ago

IBM Research is currently developing a roadmap to power a quantum-centric supercomputer with 100,000 qubits by 2033. The company has laid out a plan to hit 1,000 qubit processors by the end of 2023 and 4,000 qubits by the end of 2025. IBM is one of the world's leading companies in the quantum computing race working to increase the number of qubits within processors and develop error-correcting methods.

IBM Research has a goal of scaling quantum systems to a size where they’ll be capable of solving the world’s most challenging problems. As part of this effort, IBM wants to deploy a quantum-centric supercomputer powered by 100,000 qubits by 2033.

The company has laid out a roadmap to reach 1,000 qubit processors this year and 4,000 qubits within two years. In April 2017, IBM Research first released a 5-qubit quantum processor, opening up the possibility of a broader range of users to engage with quantum processors. Then in 2020, IBM launched its first commercial quantum processor, IBM Q System One, which each contained up to 20 qubits.

IBM is one of the world’s leading players in the quantum computing race alongside Google and Intel. The major difficulty of scaling quantum processors is that they become increasingly error-prone as they get larger. That is why it is essential for these companies to build improved hardware and to develop more error-correcting methods.

In helping to scale quantum technology up to a size where it can solve the world’s most challenging scientific and commercial problems, IBM is developing quantum computing systems alongside many companies and leading universities in an influential consortium. According to technical guidelines, IBM’s goal with its commercial system is to develop an ability to gracefully increase the number of qubits within the processor.