IBM announced on Wednesday it has built a new experimental quantum computing chip called Loon that demonstrates it hit a key milestone toward making useful quantum computers before the end of the decade.
Quantum computers could someday solve problems that would take classical computers thousands of years. But due to the uncertain nature of quantum mechanics, the chips are prone to errors. Correcting those errors is the key focus of tech giants such as Alphabet’s Google and Amazon that are chasing quantum computers alongside IBM. In 2021, IBM proposed a new way of doing error correction: adapt an algorithm for improving cellphone signals to quantum computing and run it on a combination of quantum chips and classical computing chips. The downside of IBM’s idea is that the quantum chips become harder to build because they must contain not only basic building blocks of quantum chips called “qubits” but also new quantum connections between the qubits, Mark Horvath, a vice president and analyst at research firm Gartner, told Reuters in an interview.

Full report : IBM sees a big milestone ahead for quantum computing — and it hinges on new Loon chips.