Breakthrough development in quantum supercomputing, after IBM unveils its most powerful quantum chip with 433-qubit capacity
IBM continues to advance its expertise in quantum computing, after introducing the world’s most powerful quantum processor called Osprey.
Big Blue announced the Osprey on Wednesday, which is a 433-qubit system that has three times the number of qubits as its Eagle machine that was announced last year.
In November 2021, IBM claimed a breakthrough in quantum computing, with its Eagle processor delivering “127 qubits in a single IBM quantum processor for the first time using innovative packaging technology.”
But a year later and IBM at the annual IBM Quantum Summit, it took the opportunity to showcase its continued progress in bringing useful quantum computing to the world.
“The new 433-qubit ‘Osprey’ processor brings us one step closer to the point where quantum computers will be used to tackle previously intractable problems,” said Dr. Darío Gil, IBM senior vice president and director of research.
“We are continually expanding and advancing our quantum technology across hardware, software and classical integration to address the greatest challenges of our time, together with our partners and customers around the world,” said Dr. Gil”. This work will be fundamental to the next era of quantum supercomputing.”
At the heart of the breakthrough is IBM’s new 433-bit quantum (qubit) processor.
IBM Osprey has the highest qubit count of any IBM quantum processor, more than triple the 127 qubits of the IBM Eagle processor introduced in 2021.
IBM said this processor has the potential to run complex quantum calculations far beyond the computational capacity of any classical computer. For reference, the number of classical bits that would be required to represent a state on the IBM Osprey processor far exceeds the total number of atoms in the known universe.
Quantum computing is expected to revolutionize the way computers work by using building blocks whose functionality is based on quantum effects.
Want to learn more about practical quantum computers and what this could mean for your business? Click here to read “Qubits Are Coming” from Silicon UK
But its principles are fundamentally different from those of classical computers, with quantum qubits, for example, able to hold multiple states, in contrast to the two possible states of a digital bit.
As a result, many of the companies such as Google, IBM and Microsoft that are investing in the development of quantum computers are also looking to work with programmers to become familiar with quantum computing concepts.
IBM, for its part, also addressed the issue of noise in quantum computers, which remains an important factor in the adoption of this technology.
To simplify this, IBM released a beta update to Qiskit Runtime, which now includes allowing a user to change the speed to reduce the number of errors with a simple option in the API.
IBM said that by abstracting the complexities of these features into the software layer, it will make it easier for users to incorporate quantum computing into their workflows and accelerate the development of quantum applications.
It should be remembered that in 2019 IBM presented its IBM Quantum System One, the world’s first integrated quantum computing system.
IBM has since deployed these systems as the basis of its cloud-based IBM Quantum services in the United States, as well as in Germany for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Germany’s leading scientific research institution) and other locations.
IBM has more than 20 quantum computers worldwide, and customers can access them through the cloud.
But now IBM’s next-generation quantum system has also been upgraded, as systems scale toward the stated goal of more than 4,000 qubits by 2025 and beyond, well beyond the current capabilities of the existing physical electronics.
IBM Quantum System Two is designed to be modular and flexible, combining multiple processors into a single system with communication links.
For example, IBM said it could build a system with up to 16,632 qubits by linking three of these systems together.
This system is expected to be online by the end of 2023 and will be a building block of quantum supercomputing – the next wave of quantum computing that scales using a modular architecture and quantum communication to increase its computational capacity, and that uses hybrid . Cloud broker to seamlessly integrate quantum and classical workflows.
IBM also revealed that German conglomerate Bosch has joined the IBM Quantum Network to explore a variety of quantum use cases.
IBM has been developing its quantum computing capabilities for years.
In 2016, it made quantum computing available to the public as an on-demand, cloud-based service for use in quantum processing experiments.
Then, in 2017, IBM became the first company to begin building a commercial program around early-stage general-purpose quantum computers.
Last weekend, I wrote about Warren Mosler's argument that the Fed's rate hikes could be…
Last weekend, I he wrote on Warren Mosler's argument that the Fed's rate hikes could…
Last week, the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell said, "the disinflationary process has begun".…
Earlier this week, I joined Romaine Bostick and Scarlet Fu Bloomberg TV. The Congressional Budget…
Tomorrow morning, I'll be joining CNBC's Squawk Box to talk about a new effort tax…
Former Vice President Mike Pence talks about privatizing Social Security. The remarks came Thursday before…