IBM unveils ambitious plan for fault-tolerant quantum computer

Forward-looking: IBM has outlined a plan to build the world's first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer. Dubbed Quantum Starling, the machine is expected to deliver 20,000 times the compute of modern quantum computers at full capacity.

The machine will be housed at a new IBM Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is on track to be operational by 2029.The platform will feature 200 logical qubits capable of running 100 million quantum operations.

A logical qubit is defined as a single unit of an error-corrected quantum computer that is tasked with storing one qubit's worth of information, and is comprised of multiple physical qubits working in tandem to help reduce errors.

According to IBM, the computational state of Starling would require the memory of more than a quindecillion (1 followed by 48 zeros) of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

In quantum computing, error correction is ...