IBM’s Builds a Fault-Tolerant Quantum Starling Computer
IBM has made waves with its announcement that it will build the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, which provides exciting signals for the future of computing. This next-generation quantum machine, called Quantum Starling, and due to be housed in a newly built IBM Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, is scheduled to be finished in 2029.
Today’s quantum computers only achieve limited numbers of operations due to uncertainty and error rates, yet Starling is devised to execute 20,000 times more operations. Starling will eventually replace 200 logical qubits to perform 100 million quantum operations – an unimaginably powerful level of computational power, requiring an extreme ratio of traditional supercomputers to match.
Starling’s greatest differentiator is the specific focus on fault tolerance by IBM – a way to run complex programs on quantum computers without the hindrance of errors. This approach uses logical qubits, which consist of multiple physical qubits working together to detect and correct errors in real-time. The ambition is to develop a system that is efficient enough to run useful algorithms without requiring impossible levels of hardware.
The computing giant has made a breakthrough based on a new error-correcting method called quantum low-density parity check (qLDPC) codes. The new system will reduced the number of needed physical qubits that, in terms of the physical qubits, will decrease needed infrastructure by approximately 90% over previous methods. The second technical advancement relies on being able to convert data from physical qubits fast enough that real-time corrections can be made through classical computing.
IBM has laid out a full development roadmap to develop functional quantum systems and eventually its own Quantum Systems. New processors will be developed over the next few years, each intended to address the specific challenges that must be addressed along the way. The first, Loon (2025), is expected to test internal connectivity. The second, Kookaburra (2026) will be expected to work with encoded memory and logic. The third, Cockatoo (2027), is expected to string together multiple modules, and make Starling potential scalable and modular.
According to Arvind Krishna (CEO of IBM), this is not just a technology milestone it considers it a step towards solving real-world problems such as drug discovery, materials science, and logistics. IBM’s Quantum Starling will not only outperform existing machines, it will unlock new avenues of innovation and exploration. With their clearly mapped out time line and revolutionary architecture, IBM is not just envisioning the quantum future they are building it.
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