The road to advantage
When we previewed the first development roadmap in 2020 we laid out an ambitious timeline for progressing quantum computing over the proceeding years.
To date, we have met all of these commitments and it is our belief we will continue to do so.
In 2022, we updated our development roadmap to present an ambitious plan for scaling quantum systems beyond old limitations and toward advantage. We put that plan into action, and continue to hit our milestones on schedule.
Driving speed, scale and quality
In 2022, we unveiled the 433-qubit Osprey processor, just one year after breaking the 100-qubit barrier with our 127-qubit Eagle chip.
In 2023, we are on track deliver the 1,121-qubit Condor processor. These processors push the limits of what can be done with single chip processors and controlling large systems.
Solving the scaling problem
Going beyond single chip processors is the key to solving scale. This year we plan to introduce classical parallelized quantum computing with multiple Heron processors connected by a single control system.
In 2024, we will debut Crossbill, the first single processor made from multiple chips. The same year we will also unveil our Flamingo processor. This remarkable processor will be able to incorporate quantum communication links, allowing us to demonstrate a quantum system comprising three Flamingo processors totaling 1,386 qubits.
Then in 2025 we will combine multi-chip processors and quantum communication technologies to create our Kookaburra processor. This will demonstrate a quantum system of 3 Kookaburra processors totaling 4,158 qubits. This leap forward will usher in a new era of scaling providing a clear path to 100,000 qubits and beyond.
Dealing with the noise
Qiskit Runtime is an environment of co-located classical systems and quantum systems built to run quantum circuits at speed and increased quality.
In early 2021 we promised Qiskit Runtime would provide greater than 100x speedups. In November that year we launched Qiskit Runtime and demonstrated a 120x speed up for a research grade workload.
In 2022 we introduced Dynamic Circuits. These extend what the hardware can do by reducing circuit depth, allowing for alternative models of circuit construction, and enable fundamental operations at the heart of quantum error correction.
Now in 2023 we will continue to speed up Qiskit Runtime with multithreading. In 2024 we will incorporate error suppression and error mitigation to help kernel developers manage quantum hardware noise and take further steps on the path to error correction.
Orchestrating quantum and classical
The unique power of quantum computers is their ability to generate non-classical probability distributions at their outputs.
In 2023 we will introduce Quantum Serverless to our stack and provide tools for quantum algorithm developers to sample and estimate properties of these distributions.
These tools include intelligent orchestration and the Circuit Knitting toolbox. With these powerful tools developers will be able to deploy workflows seamlessly across both quantum and classical resources at scale, without the need for deep infrastructure expertise.
Finally, at the very top of our stack, we plan to work with our partners and wider ecosystems to build application services into software applications, empowering the widest adoption of quantum computing.
