Forty years after IBM first began to use quantum computing, it is ready to expand the technology out of the lab and into more practical applications. The 127-qubit Eagle processor that uses quantum circuits is one of the development milestones that the company has hit since it released its previous quantum roadmap in 2020. IBM said on Wednesday that it plans to scale up its quantum ambitions and will aim to have a 4,000-qubit system operating in 25 years.
IBM plans to release its 433-qubit Osprey chip later this year and migrate the Qiskit Runtime to the cloud in 2023 in order to build the biggest quantum computer to date. The world's first universal quantum processor with over 1,000 qubits will be followed by those products later that year.
The jump in quantum volume will allow users to run longer quantum circuits, while increasing the processing speed from a maximum. It is a simple matter of quadrupling that capacity in less than a year.
IBM plans to get sets of multiple processors to communicate with one another in parallel and in series. This will help develop better error mitigation schemes and improve coordination between processors. IBM will build quantum communication links to connect larger multi-processors after that, according to the company.
As quantum computing matures, we are starting to see ourselves as more than hardware. We need to develop the software and infrastructure to take advantage of our world-leading hardware.
IBM released a set of ready-made primitive programs earlier this year that allow developers easy access to the outputs of quantum computations without requiring intricate understanding of the hardware. IBM will be able to run them on parallelized quantum processors in 2023.
These workflows will take a given problem, break it down into smaller quantum and classical programs, chew through those processes in either parallel or series, and then use an orchestrator layer to process all those different data streams. IBM will deploy its proprietary stitching infrastructure in its core quantum software stack in 2023.
Gambetta said that by next year, they will begin prototyping quantum software applications for users who want to use it. We will begin to define these services with our first test case, working with partners to accelerate the path toward useful quantum software applications. We think model developers will be able to explore quantum applications in machine learning, finance, natural sciences, and beyond.
For a long time, IBM was a key developer of the systems that were the society's processing workhorse. IBM is moving into the age of the quantum-centric supercomputer, where quantum resources will be woven together with CPUs and GPUs into a compute fabric. Those doing the most ground-breaking research, those developing the most cutting-edge technology, and those who are solving the toughest problems will all benefit from the quantum-centric supercomputer.
The first prototype of IBM Quantum System Two will be operational at some point next year.
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