International Business Machines (IBM) announced the launch of its most powerful quantum computer to date called the Osprey, a 433-qubit machine that has three times the number of qubits than its Eagle machine announced last year.
IBM Osprey has the largest qubit count of any IBM quantum processor, more than tripling the 127 qubits on the IBM Eagle processor unveiled in 2021.
Quantum computers are expected to speed up certain calculations millions of times faster than the fastest super computers today.
Dario Gil, IBM’s director of research, — at IBM Quantum Summit 2022 — said that IBM is on track to launch a computer with over 1000 qubits but for further scaling was working on a new approach.
“As we push the limits of the size of the Osprey chip that we’re announcing, if you look at it, it’s really big already. Next year, 1000 is going to be very big,” he said. “So after that, we have been designing and engineering the whole architecture for quantum computing based on modularity.”
IBM is targeting for this system to be online by end of next year and it would be the building blocks for “quantum-centric supercomputing” by connecting multiple Quantum System Twos. IBM said it could build a system with up to 16,632 qubits by linking three of these systems.
IBM has over 20 quantum computers around the world, and customers can access them through the cloud.
IBM released a beta update to Qiskit Runtime, which now includes allowing a user to trade speed for reduced error count with a simple option in the API.
IBM has updated the details of the new IBM Quantum System Two, a system designed to be modular and flexible, combining multiple processors into a single system with communication links. This system is targeted to be online by the end of 2023, IBM said in a news statement.
Telecom giant Vodafone Group is collaborating with IBM on quantum-safe cybersecurity, and also joining the IBM Quantum Network, which will give the company cloud access to IBM’s advanced quantum computing systems, as well as IBM’s industry-leading quantum expertise.
Image: Dario Gil, Jay Gambetta and Jerry Chow holding the new 433 qubit IBM Osprey processor
