IBM Expands Qiskit, World's Most Performant Quantum Software

Rhea-AI Summary

IBM has announced the expansion of Qiskit, its quantum software stack, which now supports over 100 qubits. The enhanced Qiskit SDK version 1.x focuses on performance and stability to facilitate complex quantum circuits, offering a 39x speed increase and 3x reduction in memory usage compared to previous versions. New features include AI-powered optimization, simplified execution modes, and a generative AI-powered code assistant. Qiskit aims to help users discover new quantum algorithms and advance quantum computing utility, benefiting enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions globally.

Positive

• IBM expanded Qiskit now supports over 100 qubits.
• 39x speed increase in quantum circuit optimization.
• 3x reduction in memory usage with the new Qiskit version.
• AI-powered optimization integrated into Qiskit Transpiler Service.
• Simplified execution modes for efficient quantum circuit performance.
• Qiskit Code Assistant automates quantum code development using generative AI.
• Qiskit Serverless tool for running quantum-centric supercomputing workloads.
• Enhanced performance and stability aim to discover new quantum algorithms.
• Qiskit has supported over 550,000 users and executed 3 trillion quantum circuits.
• Qiskit's open-source nature allows extensive customization and optimization.
• Significant industry support and recognition from institutions like E.ON, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Negative

• Potential for over-reliance on AI optimizations which may not suit all use cases.
• High complexity in integrating Qiskit with existing classical computing systems.
• Significant advancements may require continuous updates, leading to potential disruptions.

Tech Expert

The latest expansion of IBM’s Qiskit marks a significant advancement in quantum computing software. With a refined and comprehensive quantum software stack, Qiskit aims to enhance the performance and stability needed for utility-scale quantum hardware. This includes significant updates like the AI-powered optimization of quantum circuits, Qiskit Code Assistant based on generative AI models and the Qiskit Serverless tool. These advancements are poised to optimize quantum circuits for more efficient execution, reducing memory usage and circuit depth substantially. By employing a mix of classical and quantum computation, this software stack creates a robust platform for exploring new quantum algorithms. This development aligns with the growing need for high-performance computing solutions that integrate quantum processing units (QPUs) with traditional GPUs and CPUs. The improvements in Qiskit make it essential for enterprises and research institutions exploring complex quantum problems, thus pushing the boundaries of computational capabilities. While this is a positive step, retail investors should monitor how these advancements translate into commercial applications and partnerships, as the broader adoption of quantum computing remains in its early stages. Rating: 1

Financial Analyst

From a financial perspective, the expansion of Qiskit solidifies IBM’s position as a leader in the quantum computing space. The announcement underlines IBM's commitment to long-term investment in quantum research and development, which could attract more enterprise customers looking for advanced computational solutions. The global adoption of quantum computing promises substantial revenue streams for IBM, especially through its Quantum Network subscriptions and partnerships. However, quantifying the immediate financial impact remains challenging, given the nascent stage of quantum technology commercialization. Investors should note that IBM’s strong focus on quantum computing differentiates it from competitors and could lead to a first-mover advantage in the long run. Nevertheless, the actual financial benefits will hinge on IBM's ability to scale these technologies and integrate them into practical, revenue-generating applications. Rating: 1

Market Research Analyst

The expansion of Qiskit is a strategic move by IBM to strengthen its market position in the rapidly evolving quantum computing industry. Introducing AI-driven tools and serverless capabilities places IBM at the forefront of innovation, catering to the specific needs of research institutions, government organizations and enterprises. This move can attract a diverse user base, enhancing IBM’s ecosystem and fostering broader adoption of quantum computing. Significant partnerships, as highlighted in the PR, underscore the practical applications and trust in IBM’s technology. However, market analysts should keep an eye on competition from other tech giants and startups in the quantum space, as well as the speed of industry adoption. While Qiskit’s enhancements are promising, the market's readiness for widespread quantum computing adoption will be important in determining the overall impact. Rating: 1

• 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.

1. 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.
2. 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

FAQ

What is the latest version of IBM's Qiskit?

The latest version of IBM's Qiskit is SDK version 1.x.

How has Qiskit improved in performance?

Qiskit now offers a 39x speed increase and 3x reduction in memory usage compared to previous versions.

What are the new features in the expanded Qiskit stack?

New features include AI-powered optimization, simplified execution modes, and a generative AI-powered code assistant.

How many users has Qiskit supported?

Qiskit has supported over 550,000 users globally.

What is the significance of Qiskit for IBM Quantum Network members?

Qiskit equips IBM Quantum Network members with advanced capabilities to discover next-generation quantum algorithms.