IBM to Launch the World’s First Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer by 2029, Stock Price Soars for Eight Consecutive Days

TradingKey - On Tuesday, International Business Machines (IBM) saw its stock price rise by 1.5%, closing at $276.24, marking its eighth consecutive day of gains. Year to date, the stock has climbed over 25%, a rise that is closely tied to IBM's ambitious plans in quantum computing.

(Source: TradingView)

On Tuesday, IBM announced a significant initiative to develop the “world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer” — the “IBM Starling” — by 2029. This computer is expected to have computational power 20,000 times greater than existing quantum computers and aims to significantly accelerate processes and reduce costs in fields such as drug development and materials discovery.

IBM's Vice President of Quantum Computing, Jay Gambetta, pointed out that the company has overcome key challenges in quantum error correction technology, achieving a critical leap from laboratory science to engineering applications. The qLDPC error-correcting code it employs reduces the physical qubit overhead by 90%, requiring only 12 physical qubits to support one logical qubit — a level of efficiency comparable to Amazon's Ocelot scheme.

IBM is highly confident in the future performance of its quantum computers. The upcoming Starling quantum computer is expected to have powerful computing capabilities, able to perform one million quantum operations using 200 logical qubits, effectively addressing a range of complex problems. Following this will be the anticipated Blue Jay quantum computer, which IBM claims will handle one billion quantum operations using 2,000 logical qubits.

To achieve the goal of launching Starling by 2029, IBM has outlined a detailed milestone plan. Later this year, it plans to introduce IBM Quantum Loon for validating qLDPC architecture components; develop the Kookaburra module for quantum information storage and processing capabilities by 2026; and connect these modules into a Cockatoo system by 2027. Ultimately, they aim to deliver the Starling quantum computer in 2029 at their data center in Poughkeepsie, New York.