IBM presented new technical advances on Tuesday that should be developed, by 2029, the first commercial quantum computer, a machine with unprecedented calculation power usable for specific applications.
The American IT group has published two research articles detailing the method used to solve the main problem raised by quantum computer science, namely errors. There are already quantum computers, but their calculation capacity remains insufficient and still generates an error rate that does not offer the necessary conditions for reliable use.
A quantum commercial computer, considered as a computer revolution, will allow to carry out, with accelerated cadence, calculations beyond the reach of a conventional computer.
“Solve concrete problems”
To develop this technology, IBM is based on a code specially designed to correct errors (LDPC). He also found how to effectively detect errors and modify, in real time, program instructions.
The Centenary Group is now directed to the realization, in 2026, of its first quantum processor capable of storing information and carrying out logical operations, presented as the basic unit of the future quantum computer.
Beyond that, he tried to finish the first quantum commercial computer, called Starling, in 2029, in its Paughkeepsia laboratory, in the northeast of the United States. According to the company, it will have a power 20,000 times higher than that of quantum computers today in circulation.
Starling may “solve concrete problems and open immense possibilities for companies,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM CEO, cited in a press release.
“It’s from the future”
Among the possible applications of the quantum commercial computer, the development of new materials, fuels or medical treatments.
Quantum is also supposed to drive artificial intelligence (AI) to more in line with humans. Mark Horvath, an analyst at the Gartner cabinet, praised “a significant advance”, but estimated that not all obstacles were fired and that the applications of quantum systems in the real world remained “quite theoretical.”
Participation is considerable and is the issue of a frantic race among the great computer actors. Google announced, in December, a new quantum chip called Willow, which is characteristic of presenting a much lower error rate than those generally observed so far.
In February, Google’s reference manager, Hartmut Neven, established the deadline for Mountain View (California) at five years to complete his own quantum computer.
A few days later, Microsoft spoke of a few years, “and not decades”, praising the merits of its new chip, called Majorana 1, which uses a new state of matter, not solid, of gas or liquid. However, several specialists have questioned, since then, Microsoft’s claims for the stadium of their work.
IBM is publicly compromised, at the end of April, at the end of April to invest $ 150 billion in the United States in the five years, including 30 for research and development, which includes quantum computers. The dean company of American Tech claims to have generated more than one billion dollars in the billing thanks to Quantum it, even if the current use cases are limited.
Beyond 2029, IBM already thinks of Bluejay, expected for 2033 and ten times more powerful than Starling. For Jerry Chow, director of IBM Quantum Systems, “we are redefining what will be in the future.”
Source: BFM TV
