IBM introduced the world’s most powerful quantum processor – the Osprey with a huge 433 quantum bits (qubits). The new chip marks a series of advances in quantum computing that the company has announced.

Traditional computers pale in comparison to these quantum computers, while older computers store and process data in binary bits in the form of zeros and ones, while the latter use qubits that can be zero, one, or both at the same time. This increases computing power exponentially for each qubit added, allowing them to potentially perform calculations impossible for conventional computers.

With 433 qubits, the IBM Osprey is by far the world’s most advanced quantum processor. It packs twice the previous record holder Xanadu Borealis, tested with 216 qubits, and more than triple the qubits of IBM’s Eagle, which packs 127 qubits.

The Osprey has a similar architecture to its predecessor, consisting of a single layer of qubits above multiple layers of control wiring, which helps to compress more qubits while reducing error rates. An integrated filtering system has been added, which helps to reduce the noise level and increase the stability of the device.

IBM claims that a typical computer would need more bits than atoms in the known universe to represent the state in the Osprey processor, claiming that this machine’s number-crunching abilities are far greater than that of any conventional computer.

IBM also announced other changes to quantum systems. On the software side, bug fixing has been improved and users have been given an easier choice between increased speed and accuracy. The overall hardware of the management system has been upgraded to manage 400 qubits per rack at a lower cost than previous versions.

As impressive as this year’s updates are, IBM sees next year as a real milestone. The company’s roadmap says that next year’s Condor quantum processor will have an impressive 1,121 qubits. Also on the cards is a modular processor called the Heron, which can combine multiple 133-qubit units to create more powerful quantum processors.

IBM Quantum System Two is scheduled for release at the end of 2023. This modular system will be the basis of the company’s quantum supercomputers, which contain several processors with communication channels between them. These are all steps towards IBM’s plans to build a quantum system with more than 4,000 qubits by 2025.