IBM Quantum has recently announced its latest Quantum Processor its 127 Qubit Quantum Processor Eagle. IBM has become the first company to create a commercial 100+ Qubit Quantum Processor. The company has also announced its plans to launch Osprey, a 433 Qubit Quantum Processor by 2022 and Condor a 1121 Qubit Quantum Processor by 2024. These announcements were made by Darío Gil, the Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research on the IBM Quantum Summit Keynote.
IBM Announces 127 Qubit Eagle Quantum Processor. Plans to release Condor, 1000+ Qubit Quantum Processor by 2024.
Quantum Computing promises to deliver solutions to some of the key problems in science and mathematics with much fewer resources than Classical Computers. And Eagle takes Quantum Computing into the true realm of Quantum Computing, a place where no classical supercomputer can simulate the behavior of a Quantum Computer. An improvement in the number of Qubits is of paramount importance for solving more complex calculations. However, there is more than just the bare number of Qubits on the Quantum Chip to measure the performance of a Quantum Processor. The performance of a Quantum Processor is dependent upon 3 different factors,
- Scale
- Quality
- Speed
Eagle Quantum Processor offers a drastic improvement over previous chips on all three of these performance metrics.
Timeline
Where we came from…
2019– IBM Quantum launches Falcon, a 27 Qubit Quantum Processor. The key advancement was optimized lattice with heavy hex Qubit arrangement- arranging Qubits on the edges and corners of a hexagon. This improvement reduced the errors caused due to interference between Qubits.
2020– IBM Quantum launches Hummingbird, a 65 Qubit Quantum Processor. The key advancement was multiplexing- the ability to read multiple Qubits with a single wire and thereby drastically reducing the number of components inside the ‘Quantum Refrigerator’.
2021– IBM Quantum launches Eagle, a 127 Qubit Quantum Processor. Eagle is the first commercial Quantum Processor ever to break the barrier of 100+ Qubits on a single chip. Eagle advances on both multiplexing and heavy-hex arrangement. The chip also leverages IBM’s deep expertise in chip manufacturing and makes advances in 3D integration of multiple components and wiring. These advances make the path to a 1000 Qubit Quantum Processor possible.
Where we are headed…
2022– IBM Quantum plans to release Osprey, a 433 Qubit Quantum Processor.
2021– IBM Quantum plans to release Condor, a 1121 Qubit Quantum Processor. Condor will allow for error correction of Qubits and help dive further into the realm of Quantum Computing.
Key Takeaways from the IBM Quantum Summit Keynote
- IBM breaks the barrier of a 100 Qubit Commercial Quantum Processor by announcing 127 Qubit Eagle Processor.
- IBM Quantum aims to launch 1000+ Qubit Quantum Processor in the next 2 years.
- Plans on developing new circuit libraries for fields like Chemistry, Finance, and Machine Learning making it easy for developers to integrate Quantum into Business workflows.
- IBM Quantum unveils IBM Quantum System Two- A concept for future scalable Quantum Computation.