IBM now has 18 quantum computers in its fleet of weird machines

IBM now has 18 quantum computers. This corresponds to an increase of three this quarter. This underscores the company’s efforts to benefit from a revolutionary way of data processing. Dario Gil, Head of IBM Research and a champion of his quantum computing efforts, announced the number on the Big Blue Think of a conference Wednesday.

Eighteen quantum computers may not sound like much. Given that each is an unwieldy device that is cooled within a fraction of a degree above absolute zero and is certified by Ph.D. Researchers, it’s actually a pretty big fleet. In comparison, Google’s quantum computer lab near Santa Barbara, California has only five machines, and Honeywell has only six quantum computers.

Quantum computing is not yet in its infancy, but it probably only made it in early childhood. The technology today remains exotic and expensive, with largely unproven benefits. But companies like IBM, Google, Microsoft, Intel and Honeywell as well as startups like IonQ, Quantum circuits and Rigetti Computing are running to bring quantum computers to maturity. Your hope is to benefit from customers’ desire to solve classes of computer problems that are impossible for traditional computers.

You are unlikely to ever have your own quantum computer because they are so difficult to use, surrounded by huge cooling devices, and isolated from outside interference that can affect calculations. Instead, you can get them through cloud computing services. So far, 230,000 people have done this Q experience from IBMGil said.

IBM is working to make its quantum computers accessible only to mortals, not just those who understand the strange physical concepts such as overlay and entanglement that make quantum computers tick. Computational operations are packaged in standard recipes that call circuits that apply a sequence of transformations to qubits, the quantum data storage elements, which are far more adaptable than the bits of conventional computers.

Quantum computer circuits

One sequence of operations is one circuit that JP Morgan Chase uses to set prices for financial derivatives, and another helps Daimler perform physical simulations to improve the chemistry of electric vehicle batteries.

Computing becomes a hybrid approach with libraries of quantum computer circuits embedded in classic programs, Gil predicted. And a third variant, computers inspired by the neurons in the human brain, will add another option.

“It’s not like one eats the other,” said Gil. “The most profound effect of what is happening on the computer today is the convergence of bits, neurons and qubits.”

IBM believes that these quantum circuits, which are embedded in ordinary software, will significantly expand access to quantum computers. And now a new business strategy has started to promote the approach – “Circuits as a Service”.

“We’re going there,” Gil said in a CNET interview. “If we do it well, quantum computing will make it accessible to a much larger group of people.”

However, IBM continues to offer low-level access to its systems for those who want to get the most from the hardware.

Kevin Krewell, analyst at Tirias Research likes the strategy. “Instead of reinventing a programming language, they added libraries for Python,” a widely used conventional programming language. “You can also get dirty with the Qiskit platform,” he said.

Annual doubling of quantum computing power

IBM is on the way to at least double the performance of its quantum computers every year. This has been happening for four years. It evaluates its machines based on a measurement he invented, called quantum volume, which tracks both the number of qubits in a machine and the reduction in error rates that hinder quantum calculations.

IBM’s quantum computer competitors generally haven’t signed up for the same benchmark, but the most notable is Honeywell. Another type of quantum computer is being built – an ion trap machine that can operate at slightly less frosty temperatures than IBM’s superconducting designs. And Honeywell promises that its machines will increase quantum volume by a factor of 10 every year, a much faster pace than IBM.

Gil said, however, that he was confident that IBM would take action in the coming years, supported by evidence from IBM Research’s research. IBM’s most powerful quantum computer, code-named Paris, has 53 qubits. IBM will increase that with a larger system that Gil didn’t want to go into detail later this year, but he said Big Blue’s approach will work beyond a million qubits.

This advance is achieved in part by miniaturizing hardware and stuffing more of it into the cryostat – the supercooled chamber that houses the quantum computer processor and a complicated arrangement of wires that carry microwave signals that are used for operation said Gil. Part of this change will be due to processor technology, which can run better at such cold temperatures.

Is Gil concerned that Honeywell will overtake IBM? Ion trap machines have potential, but “we did our homework,” he said. Honeywell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Operating a cloud computing service is also difficult, said Gil. But he welcomes the competition. “It’s great that Honeywell is driving an ambitious roadmap.”