(CNET) IBM’s quantum computer will get more than 1,000 qubits in three years, and the company expects machines with more than a million qubits after that.
Big Blue plans for its Condor quantum processor, coming in 2023, to have 1,121 qubits, an enormous increase over the 27 and 53 qubits, respectively, in today’s Falcon and Hummingbird chips. Further in future, the company plans to build systems with 1 million qubits or more, a profound change that IBM hopes will open up a new class of computing abilities.
BM, which names its quantum chips after birds, is upgrading its current Hummingbird chip to 65 qubits this year. The Eagle chip will have 127 next year, and Osprey will have 433 the year after. That should help IBM fulfill its promise to double every year its quantum volume, a measurement that captures not just the qubit total but also how capable the qubits are at performing a computation.
The best way to make a quantum computer still isn’t clear. Intel and Microsoft use other approaches that are even more experimental than IBM’s, but they hope they’ll be able to leapfrog today’s main players.
IBM Promises Steady Quantum Computing Progress Through 2023
