IBM Outlines its Quantum Computing Roadmap

Sept. 27, 2020, 9:32 p.m.

Topline

IBM presented its roadmap for quantum systems and plans to expand this promising technology as more competition in the market place emerges.

IBM is shaping the future of Quantum Computing (Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash)

Key Facts

1
IBM team is developing a suite of scalable, increasingly larger and better processors, with a 1,121 qubit device, called IBM Quantum Condor, targeted for the end of 2023.
2
The company sees the 1,000 qubit mark as a breakpoint for overcoming the barriers that currently restrict the commercialization of quantum systems.
3
Today's commercial dilution refrigerators will no longer be able to cool and isolate those potentially massive, complex devices efficiently.
4
The roadmap includes the introduction of a 10-foot-tall and 6-foot-wide “super-fridge,” internally codenamed “Goldeneye,” a dilution refrigerator larger than any commercially available today according to IBM.

Details

Quantum computing has a relatively recent history since it was theorized in the 80s. It stands for the application of quantum theory, describing the interactions between elements at the scale of the infinitely small (i.e. how atoms and other smaller particles interact with each other), applied to the field of computer science. Therefore, quantum computing is the use of quantum-scale particles (atoms, electrons, and photons) to improve the performance of our computing hardware.

The application areas of quantum computing are as varied as cryptography, metrology, optimization, cybersecurity, simulation, data analysis, artificial intelligence, drug development, financial modeling, better batteries, cleaner fertilization, traffic optimization, weather forecasting and solar capture

To bring quantum computing to a wider audience, Cloud computing is indeed how most quantum resources will be consumed. Using the same approach, IBM's roadmap is part of a larger mission to design a complete quantum computer deployed via the cloud that anyone in the world can operate.

Knowing the way forward doesn’t remove the obstacles; we face some of the biggest challenges in the history of technological progress. But, with our clear vision, a fault-tolerant quantum computer now feels like an achievable goal within the coming decade.
Jay Gambetta
IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum