IBM updated his roadmap which presents all its upcoming quantum projects. The computer specialist recalled Tuesday, May 10 that he wants to be at the forefront of quantum technologies. After boasting at the end of 2021 of offering the most powerful quantum processor, it now aims to develop a quantum supercomputer by 2025. This device with a computing power of 4,000 qubits would make it possible to expand all the applications made possible by the quantum.
A project in several stages
IBM’s latest quantum computing feat is its 127-qubit Eagle processor. Coupled with the Qiskit development kit, made open-source by IBM in 2021, this component already offers developers the possibility of performing advanced quantum calculations with basic knowledge. This makes it possible, for example, to model molecules with unparalleled precision, which is very useful for the design of drugs. The computer giant wants to go even further by launching its supercomputer to widen the field of possibilities.
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This quantum supercomputer, which would have a computing power of 4000 qubits, will arrive by 2025. Its design process will be done in several stages. IBM’s first objective is to first design its 433-qubit Osprey chip, which will be released in 2022. This component lays the first bricks in the design of another even more powerful chip: Condor. It has a power of 1000 qubits and will arrive in 2023.
This quest for power is an intermediate step for the creation of the quantum supercomputer. These increasingly powerful processors will allow IBM to design longer quantum circuits to increase the processing speed of the computer. This speed, measured in CLOPS (circuit layer operations per second), should increase from 2,900 to 10,000 operations per second by 2025. This unit, introduced by IBM in 2021measures the speed at which quantum processors are able to activate chips in a quantum circuit.
Applications in many fields
To accomplish this feat, IBM plans to link together several quantum processors in a circuit, both in parallel and in series. The objective of this step is to minimize the risk of error and to better coordinate the processors between them. These are two prerequisites for operating the quantum computers of tomorrow.
From there, the process of designing the quantum supercomputer will take on a more concrete form. IBM will develop chip couplers that will connect several chips together to create a larger processor. Then, these new processors will in turn be connected to others via quantum communications. In this way, they will train a bigger and bigger processor until they get the 4000 qubit supercomputer.
The applications made possible by such a machine go beyond anything that can be done today with a conventional supercomputer, “ By 2025 developers will be able to explore quantum uses in machine learning, optimization, finance, natural sciences and more explains Jay Gambetta, a researcher at IBM. Quantum computing should play an important role in the challenges of tomorrow. It could help design batteries or drugs, but it also has uses yet to be discovered.