In late May, IBM shared its plans to introduce a fault-tolerant quantum system called Quantum Starling by 2029, capable of running quantum circuits with 100 million quantum gates on 200 logical qubits. Following Starling, IBM will roll out the Nighthawk quantum processor, starting this year and continuing through 2028.
Market investments are on the rise, and partnerships are increasing as innovations in the field progress. Major players like Nvidia are striving to establish their presence, while D-Wave, after making its annealing Advantage quantum systems available through its Leap cloud platform, recently made its first on-site computer sale to Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich and launched a business to sell other systems. This preceded the introduction of its Advantage 2 quantum chip and the ambitious roadmap unveiled earlier this year.
- QuEra’s 256-qubit Aquila quantum system, based on programmable arrays of neutral Rubidium atoms in Boston, has been accessible through the AWS cloud for 130 hours weekly since
- The launch of the Gemini quantum system in Japan reflects the company’s progress in advancing its quantum systems.
Reflecting on these advancements, Boger, QuEra’s chief commercial officer, remarked, “Considering all this progress, we and others believe that quantum computers could soon become practical for solving business problems with commercial value. Conventional wisdom suggests that initial applications will likely focus on areas like chemistry, pharmaceuticals, and material science.”
On the contrary, QuEra delivered a gate-based neutral-atom quantum system to the National Quantum Computing Centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, England.
Additionally, QuEra installed its first quantum systems outside their labs, sending the gate-based neutral-atom Gemini quantum computer to Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. This installation followed a $41 million deal between QuEra and the institute to provide the system for the new G-QuAT quantum-AI research center a year prior. The QuEra system operates alongside the Nvidia-powered ABCI-Q supercomputer in Japan.
Boger elucidated, “We need a moderate amount of power, stability at room temperature to prevent mechanical misalignment, and clean airflow similar to that in a data center. We ensure there is no moisture accumulation or similar conditions.”
Sitting in an office at the Boston headquarters of QuEra Computing, Yuval Boger discussed recent strides in quantum computing that are sparking conversations about accelerating the timeline for introducing a functional and reliable system.
As companies make strides in quantum computing, the landscape is evolving rapidly, with the aim of making quantum operations more efficient in the near future.
