IBM has been experimenting with quantum computing for the past four decades, and now the time has come to bring the technology into supercomputers. A 127-qubit Eagle processor utilizing quantum circuits and the Qiskit Runtime API was part of the American corporation’s quantum roadmap that was released in 2020.
Now, by 2025, IBM intends to release a system that contains 4,000 qubits, which are a unit of quantum information and the quantum equivalent of a bit. With the launch of its 433-qubit Osprey chip in late 2022 and the migration of Qiskit Runtime to the cloud in 2023, IBM plans to construct the largest quantum computer to date. This is covered by Engadget.
It will be followed by IBM’s Condor quantum chip, which they are calling the “world’s first universal 1000-qubit quantum processor.” The amount of qubits in a processor, or quantum volume, has increased fourfold, allowing users to run longer quantum circuits at processing speeds exceeding 10,000 CLOPS (circuit level operations per second), up from a maximum of 2,900 CLOPS.
To start, IBM will acquire groups of numerous processors that can talk to each other in series and parallel. An improvement in the coordination of the processors—essential parts of quantum computers—and a development of more efficient error correction schemes will result from this.
IBM plans to construct quantum communication links to link these larger multiprocessors together after designing and deploying chip-level connectors that “will tightly couple multiple chips together to efficiently form a single, larger processor,” according to the business. Eventually, a modular computing platform with 4,000 qubits will be formed by forming larger clusters.
“That allow developers to easily access the results of quantum computing without requiring a complex understanding of the hardware.” The business has also made available a collection of pre-made primitives. Developers will be able to run these programs on parallel quantum processors after IBM expands them in 2023.
Subdividing the problem into smaller quantum and classical programs allows for parallel or sequential processing (based on efficiency) of the processing. Once orchestration is complete, classical computers will be able to access the combined, coherent result of all the data streams.
IBM’s proprietary stitching infrastructure, which will be integrated into the core quantum software stack in 2023, is referred to as Quantum Serverless.
A new era of computing is dawning for IBM as the company prepares to integrate quantum resources, or QPUs, with classical CPUs and GPUs to form a computing fabric. The first prototype of IBM Quantum System Two, which will be comprised of these hardware and software systems, is expected to enter service in 2023.