IBM Shows Off New Quantum Computing Chips And Machines

JAKARTA - International Business Machines (IBM) on Monday 4 December showed new quantum computing chips and machines that it hopes will become the basis of much larger systems in the next ten years.

Researchers around the world are trying to perfect quantum computing, which relies on quantum mechanics to achieve computing speeds much faster than classical silicon-based computers. The challenge is to create quantum computers that can reliably outperform conventional computers in the real world.

Microsoft, Alphabet's Google, and China's Baidu, along with startups and several countries, are all in the race to develop quantum machines.

As quantum researchers succeed in building machines big enough to surpass classical computers, they struggle with data errors. On Monday, IBM demonstrated what it says is a new way to connect chips together in machines and then link machines together, which, when combined with new error-correcting codes, could lead to exciting quantum machines by 2033.

The first machine to use this technology was called Quantum System Two, which used three "Heron" chips. Dario Gil, IBM's senior vice president and director of research, said that progress will look fairly steady through 2029, when the full effect of error correction technology comes into play.

After that, machines should experience a sharp increase in capabilities, similar to how artificial intelligence (AI) systems have evolved slowly over the past 15 years to become much more sophisticated in the past year.

"You have to plug it in," Gil said of IBM's newest chip. "You have to do a lot of these things together to make it practical. Because otherwise, it's just an exercise on paper."

IBM isn't the only quantum player targeting machines in the next few years. Startup PsiQuantum, which is working with GlobalFoundries (GFS) to make its chips, told Reuters earlier this year that it plans to have a commercial machine within six years.