INTERNATIONAL Business Machines (IBM) yesterday said it has designed a new quantum computing chip that its executives believe will let quantum systems start to outperform classical computers at some tasks within the next two years.

IBM said that its “Eagle” computing chip has 127 so-called “qubits,” which can represent information in quantum form. Classical computers work using “bits” that must be either a 1 or 0, but qubits can be both a 1 and a 0 simultaneously.

That fact could one day make quantum computers much faster than their classical counterparts, but qubits are exceedingly hard to build and require huge cryogenic refrigerators to operate correctly.

While Apple Inc.’s newest M1 Max chip has 57 billion transistors — a rough proxy for bits — IBM says that its new Eagle chip is the first to have more than 100 qubits.

But IBM said that new techniques that it learned in building the chip, which is manufactured at its facilities in New York state, will eventually produce more qubits when combined with other advances in the quantum computer’s refrigeration and control systems. The company said yesterday it plans an “Osprey” chip in 2022 with 433 qubits and a “Condor” chip 1,121 qubits.

At that point, the company says it will be close to what is called “quantum advantage,” the point at which quantum computers can beat classical computers. (SD-Agencies)