IBM intends to begin commercial use of quantum computers in the next 3-5 years. This will happen when the quantum computers being developed by the American company will surpass the supercomputers that currently exist in terms of computing power. Norishige Morimoto, director of IBM Research in Tokyo and vice president of the company, Norishige Morimoto, made the announcement at the recent IBM think Summit Taipei.
It is worth noting that IBM began development in the field of quantum computing in 1996. Research work led to the fact that in 2016 the company created a 5-qubit quantum computer. At the annual CES 2019, the developer introduced a 20-qubit computing system called IBM Q System One.
Even Mr. Morimoto, during his speech, announced that IBM would soon introduce a 58-qubit quantum computer. He also noted that existing quantum computers are not capable of seriously competing with supercomputers based on traditional computing architectures. This means that quantum computers will become profitable only after the production of 58-qubit computing systems is launched.
This statement confirms the opinion of many experts who argued that the so-called "quantum superiority" over traditional computers will be achieved with the advent of 50-qubit machines.
Mr. Morimoto also noted that quantum computers are not mobile systems, since they must be placed in an isolated environment with a temperature of -273 Β° C for normal operation. This means that quantum systems must be combined with traditional supercomputers at the software level.
Recall that in addition to IBM, related projects in this area are actively developed by such giants as Google, Microsoft, NEC, Fujitsu and Alibaba. Each of the tech giants is looking to gain a dominant presence in the quantum computing space.
Source: 3dnews.ru