IBM Quantum

Summit 2023

The quantum community is growing. More users are leveraging quantum as a tool to do research beyond the abilities of brute-force classical computation. They plan to use our systems as tools to help advance a variety of use cases.

This means that our hardware, software, and services have to be powerful enough to meet their needs, and simple enough to integrate into existing workflows. During this year’s IBM Quantum Summit, we unveiled a new suite of tools to simplify the work of utility-era 100+ qubit quantum executions. Additionally, we revealed Heron, the most advanced quantum processor in the world, accompanied by a roadmap aimed at achieving error-corrected quantum computing by 2029.

Useful quantum computing requires systems that can run as many gates as possible within the coherence times of a qubit. Heron, our flagship chip, is engineered for exactly that purpose.

Using a new IBM technology, tunable couplers, Heron virtually eliminates crosstalk errors that emerge when neighboring qubits interfere with one another. Thanks to this development, Heron can run 1800 gates within the coherence times of its qubits; nearly four times the number of gates as Eagle. That means that Heron is now our lowest-error, highest-performing processor yet.

Additionally, IBM Quantum System Two, our modular, extensible architecture for the future of quantum computing, will debut in 2024 with three coupled Heron processors.

According to the Unitary Fund Survey 2023, a majority of quantum developers (68.8%) use Qiskit. The upcoming Qiskit 1.0 release is focused on stability, reliability, and performance in programming and memory usage. We also showcased new demonstrations and concepts for AI tools to help write and optimize quantum programs. Qiskit 1.0 is planned for Q1 2024.

Our new Batch execution mode allows multi-job workloads to be submitted all at once, pre-compiled in parallel, and efficiently threaded for execution. Optimizing traditionally batch workloads has led to up to 5x speedup.

Qiskit Patterns is a framework designed to help users build utility scale workflows. Each pattern comprises four steps: mapping, optimizing, executing, and post-processing. This framework maximizes composability with existing software ecosystems and guides users to better leverage collections of capabilities within each of the 4 steps.