Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

20-qubit IBM Q quantum computer could double its predecessor’s processing power

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

IBM has long been one of the organizations at the forefront of research into quantum computing, especially when it comes to offering commercial access to its hardware. Now the company has announced significant new developments pertaining to its IBM Q program.

When IBM first gave the public access to its quantum computer via the internet in May 2016, its quantum processor comprised only 5 qubits. The company has announced that by the end of 2017, clients will be able to access a 20-qubit processor via its online portal.

Recommended Videos

Thanks to across-the-board improvements to elements like its connectivity and packaging, this means that the computer will be able to perform quantum computations as much as twice as fast as the 5- and 16-qubit systems that are currently available via the IBM Q platform.

IBM says that these improvements come as the result of three generations of development that have taken place since the IBM Q project got underway. Further enhancements are set to come in 2018, which should allow users to further explore the practical applications for this technology.

The company has already built and measured a prototype 50-qubit processor that is apparently already operational. It’s reportedly capable of similar performance to the systems that have already been rolled out, and will be made available as part of the next generation of IBM Q hardware.

These hardware improvements are accompanied by an expansion of QISKit, IBM’s open source software developer kit that’s intended to facilitate the use of quantum computers. Users can now use the package to create their own programs that can then be run on the company’s quantum hardware, or simulators.

Over the past 18 months, IBM Q has allowed 60,000 uses to run a total of 1.7 million quantum experiments for educational and experimental purposes. While various different entities are pushing the field of quantum computing forward, IBM stands alone in terms of its efforts to make the technology widely accessible to anyone who is interested in using it. Going forward, the possibilities are only going to grow in scope thanks to the improvements being made to the company’s hardware.

Brad Jones
Brad Jones
Former Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
Topics
Meta confirms its AI hacked another company’s system, and the pattern is anything but Irregular
AI security firm Irregular keeps living up to its name as another AI testing mishap comes to light.
Body Part, Finger, Hand

Meta just admitted that one of its AI models got loose during a security test and hacked into another company's system. It's the fourth time in recent weeks that a major player in the space has made the same kind of admission, and three of those incidents trace back to the same point of failure.

One testing lab, three separate slip-ups

Read more
Scam Uber emails are targeting users with fake payment alerts
Your Uber payment method probably didn't expire. Here's how to spot the scam before it costs you.
uber-hotel-bookings

Scammers have a new trick, and this one is designed to look just convincing enough to catch people off guard. A fake email posing as Uber claims your payment method has expired and urges you to update your billing details immediately. On the surface, it resembles a routine account notification. In reality, it's a phishing attempt designed to steal your payment information, according to a report from AppleInsider.

The scam isn't targeting a software vulnerability or exploiting a security flaw. Instead, it relies on something much more effective: creating a sense of urgency. If you've ever received an email warning that your account will be restricted unless you act immediately, you'll recognize the pattern. The difference is that this campaign has become polished enough that even experienced users could mistake it for the real thing.

Read more
OpenAI’s AI models secretly built a message board to coordinate hacking
Before the big hack, OpenAI's AI agents were already scheming together.
OpenAI logo on Microsoft surface

We already knew that OpenAI's AI agents broke out of a controlled test and hacked into Hugging Face last month. Now, we know it wasn't a solo act.

At the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, as reported by Politico, OpenAI researchers Michael Dalton and Eric Wallace revealed that some of the company's most advanced models secretly started sharing hacking tips, weeks before the breach happened. Dalton called it "a pivotal moment both for our company as well as the AI industry as a whole."

Read more