IBM to invest $20 billion in quantum computing and other technologies
On Oct. 6, President Joe Biden visited the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., which is also home to the IBM Quantum Computing Center. Following the factory tour, Biden and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna gave separate speeches, and Krishna announced a $20 billion investment in semiconductors, quantum computing and other cutting-edge technologies in New York State.
Krishna Introduces Quantum Computers to Biden
01Investing $20 billion over the next decade
One of the purposes of Biden's trip was to promote the Chip and Science Act (CHIPS), which he signed earlier this year. The bill will invest more than $200 billion in semiconductors, quantum computing and other cutting-edge technologies.
We are at a turning point in world history," Biden said, "and the changes that are likely to occur in the next 10 years will fundamentally change the way we see the world and our place in it. That's not hyperbole; it's real. We are better positioned than any other country in the world to own the second 25 years of the 21st century. We've created 678,000 new manufacturing jobs since we were elected, and we're just getting started. Where is it written that we can't lead the world in manufacturing?"
In support of the CHIPS Act, IBM CEO Armind Krishna announced a $20 billion investment in New York State's Hudson River Valley over the next decade. This investment includes breakthroughs in semiconductor technology, mainframe computers, quantum computers and artificial intelligence," he said. All of these will boost economic activity and create jobs, in addition to supporting 7,500 jobs in the Hudson Valley and 11,000 jobs statewide."
Krishna said, "IBM is honored to host President Biden at our Poughkeepsie facility today, and we look forward to highlighting our commitment to innovation that will drive the U.S. economy. As we tackle large-scale technology challenges in climate, energy, transportation and more, we must continue to invest in innovation and discovery, as advanced technologies are key to solving these problems and driving economic prosperity, including better jobs for millions of Americans."
Biden hailed the commitment of this "iconic American company" as another sign that his strategy to rebuild America's innovative edge is working. He said, "This plant and others across America are building America's future."
The background plate reads Made in America
02World's first quantum data center
IBM says the new act will help drive the future of quantum computing by accelerating research, expanding the quantum supply chain and providing more opportunities for researchers to explore the commercial and scientific applications of quantum systems.
At the center of IBM's campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is the world's first quantum data center. Established in 2019, the center now has more than 20 quantum systems executing more than 2 billion circuits per day. It is also the world's largest unit of quantum computing systems for commercial and research activities.
IBM Quantum Data Center
Key to the success of the Quantum Data Center is the IBM Quantum System One, a system built to take quantum computing out of the lab and into the commercial environment. The stability, reliability, flexibility and scalability of this design allows it to quickly scale from a 27-quantum-bit "Falcon" processor to a 127-quantum-bit "Eagle" processor, while maintaining high availability.
IBM Quantum System One is the world's first integrated quantum computing system designed for commercial use, and it currently supports IBM's 27-quantum-bit "Falcon" processor, 65-quantum-bit "Hummingbird The system currently supports IBM's 27-quantum-bit "Falcon" processor, 65-quantum-bit "Hummingbird" processor and 127-quantum-bit "Eagle" processor.
In addition to the challenges associated with maintaining uptime in classical data centers, the analog nature of quantum computers increases the complexity of monitoring the quality of quantum bits and ensuring high fidelity of all quantum bits. To this end, IBM has devised techniques to automatically detect and resolve problems that may arise over time related to the reliability and reproducibility of programmable multi-quantum bit operations. The result is that their system can manage quantum computing research on the cloud with 99% uptime.
Since the launch of the quantum computing roadmap in 2020, IBM has used their flexible hardware development process to fabricate and iterate on a family of quantum processors that have been validated and integrated into community-available quantum systems. Similar to the development of semiconductor nodes, the industry continues to develop new chips while delivering previous nodes.
Accordingly, IBM iterates and improves the performance of their quantum processors multiple times per year. IBM is already planning data center expansions to introduce next-generation systems, including the 433-quantum-bit "Osprey" to be released later this year, and the 133-quantum-bit "Heron" next year. The processor features control hardware that allows real-time classical communication between independent processors, enabling circuit weaving techniques - dividing large quantum circuits into subcircuits suitable for smaller devices and combining classical simulations to "weave" the results together to "weaving" the results together to obtain the target answer. The classical infrastructure for error suppression and error mitigation techniques coexists with Qiskit Runtime software capabilities, significantly improving the performance of these systems.
The IBM Quantum Data Center will continue to expand rapidly to meet the needs of the growing community of quantum computing users in industry, academia, research and national laboratories.
Reference link：
[1]https://research.ibm.com/blog/quantum-computation-center-update
[2]https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-biden-hails-ibm-bln-investment.html
[3]https://www.wamc.org/news/2022-10-07/biden-visits-poughkeepsie-ibm-to-invest-20-billion-in-hudson-valley
