One small step or one giant leap for quantum kind? IBM has unveiled its new 127-quantum bit (qubit) ‘Eagle’ processor at the IBM Quantum Summit 2021.
IBM describes the Eagle processor as the point in hardware development where quantum circuits cannot be reliably simulated exactly on a classical computer.
“The arrival of the ‘Eagle’ processor is a major step towards the day when quantum computers can outperform classical computers for useful applications,” says Dr. Darío Gil, Senior Vice President, IBM and Director of Research. “Quantum computing has the power to transform nearly every sector and help us tackle the biggest problems of our time.”
As our sister site Webopedia notes, first proposed in the 1970s, quantum computing relies on quantum physics by taking advantage of certain quantum physics properties of atoms or nuclei that allow them to work together as qubits, to be the computer’s processor and memory. By interacting with each other while being isolated from the external environment, qubits can perform certain calculations exponentially faster than conventional computers.
IBM’s interest in this field is well known. It recently debuted roadmaps for quantum computing, including a path for scaling quantum hardware to enable quantum circuits to reach “Quantum Advantage”, the point at which quantum systems can meaningfully outperform their classical counterpoints. Eagle is the latest step along this scaling path.
Eagle is IBM’s first quantum processor developed and deployed to contain more than 100 operational and connected qubits. It follows IBM’s 65-qubit ‘Hummingbird’ processor unveiled in 2020 and the 27-qubit ‘Falcon’ processor unveiled in 2019.
In terms of Eagle, IBM researchers worked on qubit arrangement design to reduce errors and an architecture to reduce the number of necessary components. The new techniques used within Eagle place control wiring on multiple physical levels within the processor while keeping the qubits on a single layer, which enables a “significant increase in qubits”.
The first Eagle processor is available as an exploratory device on the IBM Cloud to select members of the IBM Quantum Network.
There’s more to come as the roadmap mentions a 433-qubit IBM Quantum Osprey system in 2022; and a 1,000-qubit chip, IBM Quantum Condor, targeted for the end of 2023.
IBM Quantum System Two, Too
Along with Eagle, the firm had other news to share.
To give you some backstory, in 2019, IBM unveiled IBM Quantum System One, the “world’s first integrated quantum computing system”. Since then, IBM has deployed these systems as the foundation of its cloud-based IBM Quantum services in the US, as well as in Germany for Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a scientific research institution, in Japan for the University of Tokyo, and a forthcoming system in the US at Cleveland Clinic.
In addition, it announced today (16 November) a new partnership with Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, to deploy “the first IBM quantum system in the country”.
It has now unveiled IBM Quantum System Two, which is designed to work with its future 433-qubit and 1,121 qubit processors.
IBM explains: “Central to IBM Quantum System Two is the concept of modularity. As IBM progresses along its hardware roadmap and builds processors with larger qubit counts, it is vital that the control hardware has the flexibility and resources necessary to scale. These resources include control electronics, which allow users to manipulate the qubits, and cryogenic cooling, which keeps the qubits at a temperature low enough for their quantum properties to manifest.”
The prototype IBM Quantum System Two is expected to be up and running in 2023.
In other news, the company has been busy recently.
Last month IBM and Deloitte unveiled a new AI-enabled managed analytics solution to attract the attention of data scientists and business users.
In addition, IBM and Honda Motor Europe continued their love-in with a new five-year agreement under which IBM plans to manage and run Honda’s finance and procurement operations across Europe.
Image of Eagle processor courtesy of IBM.
