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IBM hits new quantum computing milestone

The company has successfully doubled its quantum volume for three years running

21 Aug 2020

IBM has announced that it's reached a new quantum computing milestone, hitting its highest quantum volume to date.

Using an upgraded 27-qubit client system deployed within the IBM Q Network, the company achieved a quantum volume of 64. The company's previous milestone, announced in January, was 32, which means IBM has successfully doubled its quantum volume every year for three years running.

Quantum volume measures the length and complexity of circuits; the higher the volume, the higher the potential for exploring solutions to real-world problems across industry, government, and research.

IBM achieved the latest performance increase by making enhancements to one of the three 27-qubit Falcon chips it announced earlier this year.

The company said it used “hardware-aware” optimisations that unlock more performance from the Falcon chip’s circuits. This includes software improvements to Qiskit, IBM’s compiler for running code on its quantum systems.

These techniques will be available in upcoming releases and improvements to the IBM Cloud software services and the cross-platform open source software development kit (SDK) Qiskit.

"We are always finding new ways to push the limits of our systems so that we can run larger, more complex quantum circuits and more quickly achieve a Quantum Advantage," said Jay Gambetta, IBM fellow and vice president at IBM Quantum.

"IBM's full-stack approach gives an innovative avenue to develop hardware-aware applications, algorithms and circuits, all running on the most extensive and powerful quantum hardware fleet in the industry."

in the last four years, IBM has made 28 quantum computers with eight of them being developed in 2020 alone.