IBM doubles the qubit count on its quantum chip

The technology giant IBM has unveiled an upgraded quantum processor as part of its drive to build ultra-fast computers. The BBC reports.

The new chip, named Eagle, has 127 qubits, twice as many as IBM’s previous processor.

The company said the new processor is a cornerstone on the path to a consumer quantum computer.

Eagle is IBM’s third quantum processor. In 2019 the company introduced the 27-qubit Falcon, and a year later the 65-qubit Hummingbird.

“The appearance of the Eagle processor is an important step toward the day when quantum computers will surpass classical computers in useful applications,” said Dario Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of Research at IBM.

At the same time, experts noted that IBM’s publicly released information lacks key parameters by which progress in quantum programming could be assessed.

Quantum processors can qualitatively change the computational power of a computer, which will help drive the creation of new materials, medicines and progress in artificial intelligence. Each additional qubit increases the processor’s power by nearly a factor of two.

IBM first opened access to quantum programming to a broad user base in 2016.

In April the company released a set of applied modules for Qiskit Machine Learning, which are part of its open-source quantum software.

In June IBM signed a £210 million deal with the UK government to the establishment of a centre for quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

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