IBM recently unveiled a new quantum computing architecture that promises to be a game-changer as quantum technology moves into uncharted territory. IBM Fellow Matthias Steffen and his team on quantum processor technology are at the vanguard of a new path. They aim to make dramatic improvements to quantum computers’ capabilities and come closer to developing systems at large-scale, fault-tolerant levels.
The new architecture recently announced will still likely need hundreds of physical qubits to deliver even a handful of logical qubits. But just how many physical qubits will be needed is still being discussed by Steffen and his research group. This creation is being hailed as a big breakthrough on the path toward practical quantum computing. Yet the industry has collectively struggled with this challenge for ages.
IBM is working to develop a practical, large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, codenamed Starling. They hope to have it in use by customers by 2029. This ambitious plan is a clear signal of IBM’s determination to continue to lead the charge in quantum innovation.
This new architecture has one very cool feature—longer-range couplers. These microwave couplers allow qubits to communicate over longer distances on the same chip. These couplers are a key component in realizing quantum low-density parity check (qLDPC) codes. That unusual error-correction scheme piqued the interest of IBM researchers, who featured it prominently in a paper published in Nature last fall. qLDPC codes greatly simplify error correction. Compared to conventional surface codes, they reduce the qubit requirement by an order of magnitude.
“One of the biggest ways forward will be to increase the coherence times of the underlying qubits,” said Steffen. Coherence time is the amount of time that qubits can remain in quantum superposition. This time interval period is critical for performing accurate fault current calculations.
IBM’s new 120-qubit processor, Nighthawk, is a particularly good example of this trend, showing a dramatic enhancement in connectivity over its predecessor, the Heron processor. This increased connectivity is extremely important for the quality and speed of quantum calculations. The Nighthawk processor will be housed in an advanced quantum data center, to be located in Poughkeepsie, New York.
IBM is going out on a limb by chaining three Nighthawk processors together next year. They are now calling this inventive new system, Kookaburra. This new initiative will allow us to see how far we can scale linked quantum systems to understand what works best. Reinventing America for the AI Era Hope to see you there! By 2027, IBM intends to demonstrate the linking of three modules together in a single device dubbed Cockatoo.
The impressive finale of IBM’s near-term roadmap looks to be a revolutionary 2,000 logical qubit machine with the catchy codenamed Blue Jay. This cutting-edge project reaffirms IBM’s commitment to advancing the frontier of quantum computing technology.
Jay Gambetta, the IBM executive overseeing the company’s quantum computing initiatives, sounded optimistic about the progress. “We’ve cracked the code to quantum error correction and it’s our plan to build the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer,” Gambetta stated.
IBM is advancing the innovation frontier in quantum computing. This advancement has huge ramifications for the public and private sector technology development and deployment. Better error correction and more seamless connectivity have great promise. They would quickly advance the frontiers of science in disciplines as diverse as cryptography, materials science, and complex system modeling.
