IBM has ambitions to take the lead in quantum computing, with a new governmental partnership inbound to make this a reality. Japanese news outlet Nikkei reports on a leaked joint effort by IBM and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) that seeks to produce a quantum computer containing 10,000 qubits by 2029, vastly outclassing today's class-leading 133-qubit machines.
Quantum computing has been a major focus of IBM for a few years now, and this newest step forward is a notable one. The 10,000 qubit machine explodes past IBM's current quantum roadmap, which doesn't even reach 2,000 qubits in commercial products until 2033 and beyond. (IBM had previously planned on a 2025 release of a 1,000 qubit computer, Condor, but the prototype has been shelved.) The goal of the 10,000-qubit machine is to run quantum calculations without a traditional supercomputer as backup, as modern 133-qubit machines often make enough mistakes to need support computers checking their work.
