International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) seems to be on track with its quantum computing hardware plans. As shared earlier, it is poised to finish 2021 with a quantum processor of more than 100 qubits. Its Eagle quantum processor was due to handle 127 qubits.
“It is impossible to simulate it on something else, which implies it’s more powerful than anything else,” Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM said in an interview on “Axios on HBO.”
The company seems to be on schedule for an 433-qubit “Osprey” chip in 2022 and a 1,121-qubit “Condor” chip by 2023.
Krishna in the interview appeared to want to temper unrealistic expectations around quantum computing. “Can it solve every problem? No,” Krishna said. At the same time, he pointed out that there are specific problems which cannot ever be dealt with by a classical computer.
He cited examples of challenges in material science and traffic optimisation among others which lend themselves particularly well to quantum computations. And a classical computer which is able to tackle these issues? “It would take a normal computer bigger than this planet to be able to do that,” Krishna was quoted as saying.
IBM is among a clutch of companies which are currently beating the path to a commercially viable quantum computer. Almost a year ago, on September 15, 2020, it released the IBM hardware roadmap which has an end goal of building a full-stack quantum computer which anyone in the world can programme via the cloud.
“Eagle features several upgrades in order to surpass the 100-qubit milestone: crucially, through-silicon vias (TSVs) and multi-level wiring provide the ability to effectively fan-out a large density of classical control signals while protecting the qubits in a separated layer in order to maintain high coherence times,” outlined IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum, Jay Gambetta in a blog post while sharing the full roadmap.
