IBM's upcoming System Two quantum computer will not be equipped with the second-largest quantum computing chip. Rather, three more compact 133-qubit chips with a significantly lower error rate will be used.
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The second-largest chip ever produced, the first quantum computing processor with more than 1,000 qubits has been unveiled by BM. |
Based on the architecture of its previous flagship, the 127-qubit Eagle chip, is the 1,121-qubit IBM Quantum Condor chip. Its size comes just short of the record-holding 1,125-qubit device that Atom, the company, unveiled in October.
However, IBM stated that it will not include any of these Condor processors in its "next-generation" System Two quantum computer, which would employ multiple, simultaneous quantum processors, as part of its 10-year quantum computing road map.
Rather, it will make use of the recently introduced IBM Quantum Heron processors, each with a mere 133 qubits.
Why a qubit can be more efficient than a thousand
From smartphones to the most potent supercomputers, traditional computers execute calculations by storing data in bits that can only have a value of 0 or 1.
On the other hand, qubits—which rely on the strange laws of quantum mechanics—are the foundation of quantum computing. Superposition is the ability of particles to exist in multiple states simultaneously. Qubits can exist in more than one state at once, and while computations are being done, they can exist in every state simultaneously if their fates are intertwined.
Calculation times are drastically reduced because as the number of qubits increases, so does the number of concurrent computational states. In order to surpass the current state-of-the-art classical computers, scientists would still require a quantum processor consisting of millions of qubits.
That poses a challenge because qubits must be maintained at nearly absolute zero, or minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), due to their well-known error-proneness. In conventional computers, the failure rate is one in one million,000,000,000,000 (billion billion) bits; in quantum computers, it is closer to one in 1,000.
Because the error rate of IBM's Heron chip is five times lower than that of the massive Condor, the company is far more excited about it.
"We had to be innovative to yield all qubits on this chip, and develop methods to overcome mechanical issues associated with cooling such a large chip." In an email to Live Science, IBM fellow for quantum processor technologies Matthias Steffen said.
However, this does not imply that IBM is not pleased with Condor's performance.
"We had to be innovative to yield all qubits on this chip, and develop methods to overcome mechanical issues associated with cooling such a large chip." In an email to Live Science, IBM fellow for quantum processor technologies Matthias Steffen said.
Steffen continued, "They were able to demonstrate that a sizable chip could be kept cold in a single-dilution refrigerator and improved the design of coaxial cabling that spanned one mile/1.6 kilometers." A large portion of this has been integrated into the design of Heron, which will be integrated into IBM's upcoming "System Two" quantum computer.
System Two is the first quantum computer with a modular architecture, allowing qubits to be added as needed over time, similar to adding extra Lego blocks. It has three Heron processors and is currently in operation in New York.
In order to progress toward a world where quantum supremacy prevails, Steffen stated that hardware must be improved by incorporating new error-correcting code that permits the qubit count to be scaled without sacrificing error-correcting efficiency.
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