IBM has announced the expansion of its quantum computing roadmap which includes plans for new modular architectures and networking that will allow its quantum systems to have larger qubit-counts, aimed at achieving large-scale and practical quantum computing.
IBM’s quantum roadmap was introduced in 2020, and so far, the company has made notable achievements across milestones which include the IBM Eagle, a 127-qubit processor with quantum circuits that cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer, and whose architecture laid the groundwork for processors with increasingly more qubits.
Additionally, the company has delivered a 120x speedup in the ability to simulate a molecule using Qiskit Runtime, IBM’s containerized quantum computing service and programming model, compared to a prior experiment in 2017. In line with the previous roadmap, IBM plans to unveil its 433-qubit processor, IBM Osprey, later this year.
On the newly expanded roadmap, IBM is leveraging three of its scalability techniques toward achieving its 2025 goal, which is the delivery of a 4,000+ qubit processor built with multiple clusters of modularly scaled processors.
“Our new quantum roadmap shows how we intend to achieve the scale, quality, and speed of computing necessary to unlock the promise of quantum technology,” said Jay Gambetta, VP of Quantum Computing and IBM Fellow.
“By combining modular quantum processors with classical infrastructure, orchestrated by Qiskit Runtime, we are building a platform that will let users easily build quantum calculations into their workflows and so tackle the essential challenges of our time.”
IBM also announced a commitment to protect data against future threats that could evolve with expected advances in quantum computing, addressing concerns that data considered securely protected today could already be lost to a future quantum adversary if stolen or harvested now for future decryption.
Furthermore, the company has announced its forthcoming IBM Quantum Safe portfolio of cryptographic technologies and consulting expertise designed to protect clients’ valuable data in the era of quantum.