- Qiskit now refined as a comprehensive quantum software
stack, focused on performance and stability to fully harness the
power of utility-scale quantum hardware, and enable users to run
increasingly more complex quantum circuits in the search for
quantum advantage.
YORKTOWN
HEIGHTS, N.Y., May 15, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the
evolution and expansion of Qiskit, its globally adopted quantum
software. Launched in 2017, Qiskit, as a software development kit
(SDK) is an open-source tool that has allowed over 550,000 users to
build and run quantum circuits on IBM's quantum hardware systems,
resulting in the execution of over 3 trillion quantum circuits to
date.
The latest version of Qiskit has been expanded to a
comprehensive software stack to deliver even more performance. It
has evolved from its beginnings as a popular quantum software
development kit used to explore and run quantum computing
experiments and into a stable SDK and portfolio of services, built
to enable users to extract improved performance while running
complex quantum circuits on 100+ qubit IBM quantum computers.
This expansion will equip members of the IBM Quantum Network
with the most performant Qiskit capabilities available to discover
the next generation of quantum algorithms in their respective
domains: which will play an important role in their discovery of
quantum advantage.
To reach quantum advantage, users need a toolset which can map
their problems in a way which leverages both advanced classical and
quantum computation; optimizes the problem for efficient execution
with quantum; and then effectively executes the quantum circuits on
real quantum hardware. IBM has spent the last seven years
developing these tools, which are now coming together to comprise
the Qiskit software stack.
This expansion of Qiskit includes over 100 releases from its
origins as a pioneering research tool built to study the inner
workings of quantum computers. Today, Qiskit has matured as a
software stack on which enterprises, government organizations,
research institutions, and universities are running large-scale
quantum experiments.
The expanded software stack of Qiskit includes:
- The stable release of Qiskit SDK v1.x for building,
optimizing, and visualizing quantum circuits.
- AI-powered optimization of quantum circuits for quantum
hardware, embedded in the Qiskit Transpiler Service.
- Simplified execution modes for the Qiskit Runtime
Service which can be tailored for performant execution of
quantum circuits on quantum hardware.
- The Qiskit Code Assistant, powered by watsonx-based
generative AI models, to automate the development of quantum
code
- The Qiskit Serverless open-source tool to run
quantum-centric supercomputing workloads across quantum hardware
and classical clusters.
The deployment of new capabilities and improvements within
Qiskit SDK are enabling users to optimize circuits for quantum
hardware at a rate 39 times faster than Qiskit 0.331.
Qiskit also is engineered to reduce the overhead and shrink the
footprint of circuits, demonstrating an average of 3 times
reduction in memory usage compared to Qiskit 0.43.2
And using the Qiskit Transpiler Service, users can reduce
circuit depth by combining AI and heuristic passes, compared to
using the Qiskit SDK without AI optimization.
"The global adoption of quantum computing — and the discovery of
quantum advantage — will require a combination of leading quantum
hardware alongside a robust and performant software stack to run
workloads," said Jay Gambetta, IBM
Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum. "These two pillars are
fundamental to the algorithm discovery that has begun on
utility-scale quantum hardware. As a growing quantum ecosystem maps
their most difficult problems to quantum circuits, the Qiskit stack
will be the cornerstone to exploring the computational spaces in
which quantum computing excels."
IBM first demonstrated the utility-scale capabilities of its
quantum hardware in 2023. This signaled the start of an era in
which quantum hardware can run quantum circuits faster and more
accurately than a classical computer simulating a quantum computer
can. Now built to maximize the performance of advanced quantum
hardware, the Qiskit software stack aims to help a global ecosystem
of users discover new quantum algorithms that explore where quantum
computers could be the best way to solve challenges over any
classical method.
"Qiskit provides an important collection of tools for E.ON as we
explore how quantum computing could help us navigate the financial
and operational complexities of the energy industry," said
Giorgio Cortiana, Head of Data and
AI - Energy Intelligence, E.ON. "As a performant foundation to
build and discover quantum algorithms that can be applied to
business use cases, Qiskit enables our team to advance
utility-scale prototypes, with the goal of finding new solutions to
challenges in the European energy sector."
"We started using Qiskit for our quantum computing efforts
several years ago as part of an effort to help develop a
quantum-ready workforce," said Stephan
Eidenbenz, senior scientist at Los Alamos National
Laboratory. "Laboratory researchers use Qiskit daily to interact
with IBM's quantum hardware backends and to test new algorithmic
ideas. The open nature of Qiskit also offers our team the ability
to add compiler optimization passes and allows pulse-level
access."
"At Brookhaven, we have used Qiskit to execute circuits on IBM's
quantum hardware, which has resulted in almost 20 published papers
to date, including exploring the frontiers of physics, dynamic
systems, condensed matter systems, and more. Qiskit has also
enabled our teams to develop extensions that push forward our
exploration of bosonic and hybrid qubit-bosonic circuits, and how
they could advance fundamental quantum algorithm development and
error correction," said James
Misewich, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and
Photon Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory. "As we advance the
scientific applications of quantum computing, we have incorporated
IBM's Qiskit resources and tutorials into our educational programs
through Brookhaven's Co-design
Center for Quantum Advantage, where we partner with academic
institutions like Stony Brook
University to prepare the quantum workforce of the future."
"For our Quantum Computing User Program here at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, advances in quantum computing software can
help support the innovation and rapid growth of our user community
and their developing technologies," said Travis Humble, director of the Department of
Energy's Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
"Improvements in software performance will significantly impact how
users test and evaluate the potential of today's quantum computing
systems."
"The team at Q-CTRL is enthusiastic about building with Qiskit,"
said Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and
Founder of Q-CTRL. "Its flexible new interfaces and enhanced
stability are enabling us to efficiently build simple abstractions
on top of our powerful performance-management software at utility
scale, so end users can explore their toughest problems with a
single command."
Built for the Era of Quantum Utility and Beyond
Through its support of rapidly advancing quantum hardware,
including vendor-agnostic flexibility, the Qiskit software stack is
designed to run the breakthrough quantum circuits to progress the
era of quantum utility. This is achieved by replacing
performance-critical code with the Rust programming language,
alongside a full portfolio of tools to enable the efficient
execution of quantum circuits.
As IBM continues to build milestones along its IBM Quantum
Development and Innovation Roadmap towards error-corrected systems,
the company expects that Qiskit will continue to deliver a
framework for open, iterative, and collaborative development of new
quantum algorithms and applications, done in conjunction with a
growing global ecosystem of clients across industries and domain
expertise areas.
Additionally, these advancing capabilities will aim to help
users weave together classical and quantum computing resources into
a new paradigm of high-performance computing defined by
quantum-centric supercomputing that integrates QPUs, GPUs, and
CPUs. Orchestrated through the performant software layer of Qiskit,
this next evolution of high-performance computing aims to open up
new, large, and powerful spaces for industries globally.
- Disclaimer: IBM's statements regarding Qiskit's performance
compares the current iteration of the software against its
performance from applicable previous version when comparable
features were available to users. Qiskit 0.33 total speed time
equaled 430.89 seconds at IBM Quantum Summit 2021. Qiskit 1.0 total
speed time equaled 10.9 seconds upon release in February,
2024.
- Disclaimer: IBM's statements regarding Qiskit's performance
compares the current iteration of the software against its
performance from applicable previous version when comparable
features were available to users. Qiskit 0.43 memory usage equaled
1,750 MiB in May, 2023. Qiskit 1.0 memory usage equaled 580 MiB
upon release in February, 2024.
IBM's statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are
subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM's sole
discretion. The development, release, and timing of any future
features or functionality described for our products remain at our
sole discretion.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and
consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries
capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business
processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their
industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in
critical infrastructure areas such as financial services,
telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud
platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital
transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's
breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing,
industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and
flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's
long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility,
inclusivity and service.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Erin Angelini
IBM Communications
edlehr@us.ibm.com
Chris Nay
IBM Communicaitons
cnay@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM