IBM Condor (quantum processor)

2023: Product Announcement

On December 4, 2023, IBM announced the Condor product - the world's first quantum processor with more than 1000 qubits (quantum bits). It is claimed that this chip takes to a new level the ability to scale and performance in the organization of quantum computing.

The Condor solution contains 1121 superconducting qubits, which are arranged as cells. The new processor was created as part of IBM's comprehensive program aimed at developing efficient quantum architectures. Condor followed the 127-qubit Eagle chip that debuted in 2021 and the 433-qubit Osprey processor that was unveiled in 2022.

IBM 1000-qubit processor

It is noted that compared to its predecessors, Condor has a 50% increase in the density of qubits. At the same time, in terms of performance, the new solution is comparable to Osprey. The fact is that the increase in the number of qubits in a quantum processor is not directly related to an increase in its power. Performance improvements require architecture changes to reduce errors, among other things.

It is noted that modern error correction methods require more than 1000 physical qubits for each logical one. In this case, a machine capable of performing useful calculations will require millions of physical qubits. qLDPC technology can help solve the problem - quantum Low-Density Parity Check (quantum Low-Density Parity Check). Thanks to this method, IBM expects to reduce the number of physical qubits required by 10 times or more.

IBM adds that in order to optimize the process of developing quantum systems, the company first began using generative artificial intelligence to program quantum code.^[1]

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