IBM Plans to Commercialize 58-Qubit Quantum Computer
Norishige Morimoto, Director of IBM Research in Tokyo and global vice president at IBM, said that IBM intends to commercialize quantum computers within 3-5 years, when he expects quantum computers to outperform supercomputers in specific domains.
[...] The company's latest System Q One quantum computing system has a 20-qubit quantum processor with a quantum volume of 16. Quantum volume is a quantum computing performance metric IBM believes is more accurate than just using qubits alone. Quantum volume uses a combination of the number of qubits and error rate to determine the real-world performance of a quantum processor. The company is currently giving others free and paid access to its existing quantum computers.
IBM, Google and others have said before that to achieve quantum supremacy, a quantum computer needs at least 50 qubits. Morimoto said that IBM plans to launch a next-generation 58-qubit quantum computer that can outperform supercomputers and thus are suitable for commercialization.
However, don't expect to own one of these any time soon, as they will require a working environment with a temperature of -273 degrees Celsius to protect the qubits from interference. As such, IBM believes that this sort of quantum computer will work best as a companion to classical supercomputers.
Room temperature or bust.
Previously: IBM Announces Working Prototype of a 50-Qubit Quantum Computer
IBM Announces its First Commercially Available Quantum Computer (20 qubits)
IBM's New Quantum Computer Will Have You Drooling
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:14PM (2 children)
Quite.y ice cream doesn’t work at room temperature, yet it’s commercialised.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday May 28 2019, @11:20PM
In fact, it's even creamier when it's liquid-nitrogen cooled ... wait a second ... quantum supercomputers that also make extra-creamy ice cream? Quite.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Wednesday May 29 2019, @04:32AM
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.