IBM Quantum Computing Progress Edges Toward Eventual Utility

    IBM’s Osprey quantum computer reaches a larger scale in part by using these new flexible cables to transmit data to and from its 433 qubits.
    IBM Research
    

    In a move that bodes well for quantum computing’s long-term prospects, IBM said Wednesday it’s built a new machine called Osprey with 433 qubits. Tripling the total number of data processing elements compared with last year significantly increases the computational power of the system.
    IBM has been working steadily for years to make quantum computing a commercial success, competing against big companies like Google and Intel, earlier specialists like D-Wave and Rigetti Computing, and newer startups like Atom Computing and Pasqal. Quantum computing promises to conquer challenges out of reach of the conventional technology that powers smartwatches and supercomputers.
    One of the most promising domains for quantum computing is materials science, where quantum chemistry simulations could improve solar panels, batteries and other devices that operate at the molecular level. But quantum computing fans also hope to bring new tools to AI, logistics, and finance. With a slowing Moore’s Law constraining conventional computing, that could mean important new progress.
    It’ll take years more progress before quantum computers deliver on their revolutionary progress, but delivering on promised steps toward the ultimate goal is important. Without the progress, the billions of dollars of investment could dry up and a quantum winter could chill the industry.
    IBM actually announced two new Osprey systems. The first is fully tested, said Jay Gambetta, vice president of IBM’s quantum computing work.
    “It works. It’s alive. All the qubits are good,” Gambetta said. “It’s another confirmation of the road map as we build larger and larger devices.”
    The second incorporates improvements made to Osprey’s predecessor, Eagle, that extends the lifespan of calculations. Quantum computers today are limited by “coherence” time, which governs how long finicky qubits can maintain their state and connections to each other.
    The improvements to IBM’s quantum processor design reduces electronic noise that can derail calculations, roughly doubling coherence time to 200 millionths of a second. That’s long enough for hundreds of calculation steps.
    New IBM customers include telecommunications giant Vodafone, which is investigating quantum-safe cryptography, and French bank Crédit Mutuel, which is looking into financial services applications, IBM said.
    IBM’s supercomputers, like those of Google and Rigetti, are called superconducting quantum computers. They rely on very cold temperatures just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero and colder than space. And they’re housed in increasingly large and expensive cylindrical refrigerators.
    To get signals in and out of the quantum computers through ever-colder refrigeration zones, IBM previously used loops of gleaming cables. Now it’s got a new method, though, ribbons of communication links that are more compact.
    “We solved a bottleneck in scale,” Gambetta said.
    More scaling is on the horizon. For 2023, IBM plans to build 1,121-qubit Condor. After that comes 1,386-qubit Flamingo in 2024 and 4,158-qubit Kookaburra in 2025.
    Correction at 8:32 a.m. PT: The story misstated the temperature at which IBM’s computer operates. It runs at a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.