IBM Unveils ‘Eagle’ Its New Quantum Chip

IBM has unveiled Eagle, a 127 qubit quantum processor it claims to be the first processor that can’t be simulated by a classical supercomputer.

IBM claimed that the Eagle is a major step toward practical Quantum computation and to stimulate it, users would need more classical bits than there are atoms in every human being on the planet.

IBM has credited the breakthrough to a new design that puts the processor’s control components on multiple physical levels while the qubits are located on a single layer. It’s a design the company says allows for a significant increase in computing power.

Multiple physical levels of the qubits located on a single layer

The director of IBM’s Quantum Hardware System Development unit, Jerry Chow said “Our first 127-qubit Eagle processor is available as an exploratory system on the IBM Cloud to select members of the IBM Quantum Network,”

“Exploratory systems are early access to our latest technologies and so we do not guarantee uptime or a particular level of repeatable performance, as measured by quantum volume.”

According to the company, a 127-qubit Eagle processor will be made available to select members of its Quantum Network starting next month and it is not yet at the point where it can solve problems that classical computers cannot but it's a step toward that milestone.