American tech giant IBM has unveiled the Osprey quantum processor featuring 433 qubits, and is the firm’s most powerful quantum computer with 3 times the number of qubits than its Eagle machine, which was declared some time last year.
The number of quantum bits, also known as qubits, indicates the power of the quantum computer which utilizes quantum mechanics. It must be noted that different quantum computer makers have different claims regarding the power of their qubits, and qubits can be developed in multiple ways.
Quantum computers are expected to quicken certain calculations in the future, which will be around a million times faster than today’s supercomputers.
Dario Gil, Director of Research, IBM, said that the company was set to launch a computer having over 1,000 qubits and was working on a new approach for further scaling.
Gil stated that the firm was pushing the limits of the size of the newly announced Osprey chip, and that it was already ‘really’ big. The top official explained that next year, 1,000 qubits would be ‘very’ big, therefore the company was working on designing and engineering the architecture needed for modularity-based quantum computing.
This news comes as the organization prepares for the upcoming IBM Quantum Summit this week.
Gil explained that Quantum System Two, which is the new modular system, would be the first modular quantum computer that would enable users to scale to larger systems over time.
The tech firm revealed that it was targeting for the system to come online by the end of 2023, and that it would act as the building blocks for quantum-focused supercomputing by linking several Quantum System Two systems.
The firm claims that it can build a system having around 16,632 qubits by connecting three of the modular systems.
Currently, IBM has more than 20 quantum computing systems globally that can be accessed by customers via the cloud.
Source credit: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/technology/ibm-launches-its-most-powerful-quantum-computer-with-433-qubits