IBM's Quantum-Computing Service Tops 100 Customers
08 Januar 2020 - 12:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Castellanos
International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that more
than 100 organizations are using its quantum-computing services,
including businesses, universities and government research
facilities.
The IBM Q Network launched in late 2017 and had 40 clients as of
January 2019. Clients of the network pay to use some of the
company's 15 early-stage quantum-computing machines via the cloud.
The service also offers access to developer tools and expertise
from IBM's quantum-computing staff.
Other technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc. and
Microsoft Corp., also allow customers to experiment with
quantum-computing hardware over their respective clouds. Microsoft
and Amazon announced quantum-computing services late last year.
Quantum computers are potentially much more powerful than
traditional computers, but they are also more delicate and prone to
faults. The technology is still in its early stages and no
commercial-grade quantum computer has been built yet. Technology
companies and startups developing quantum machines face engineering
challenges that are making the road to market longer than
planned.
Still, clients are learning about what the technology can do for
specific use cases, said Dario Gil, director of IBM Research.
"Value is being created today," he added.
IBM said its quantum-computing clients include Delta Air Lines
Inc., Daimler AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Anthem Inc. and span
industries ranging from energy to electronics.
IBM's client announcement suggests that quantum computing is no
longer a lab or university experiment, said Matthew Brisse, an
analyst at research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. who covers
quantum computing. "[Chief information officers] and technical
professionals are looking at quantum computing today to provide a
competitive differentiator in the future," he said.
By 2023, a fifth of organizations, including businesses and
governments, are expected to budget for quantum-computing projects,
up from less than 1% in 2018, according to Gartner.
Quantum computers, by harnessing the properties of quantum
physics, have the potential to sort through a vast number of
possibilities in nearly real time and come up with a probable
solution. While traditional computers store information as either
zeros or ones, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which
represent and store information as both zeros and ones
simultaneously.
The research-and-development division of Mercedes-Benz, a
Daimler brand, has been using IBM's quantum-computing services over
the past year to learn how the technology could help create
advanced batteries for electric cars. The company also has a
quantum-computing research partnership with Alphabet Inc.'s
Google.
"The technology will unlock some potential that we don't have
right now, " said Benjamin Boeser, director of innovation
management at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North
America.
Today, battery development and testing is a physical process
that requires experts to build prototypes first because there is no
simulation software. A quantum computer could help Mercedes-Benz
find new materials or combinations of materials that could result
in better electrochemical performance and longer battery life.
Some of those innovations could include lithium-sulfur
batteries, which could be more affordable than today's lithium-ion
batteries, as well as more energy efficient and environmentally
friendly, said Andreas Hintennach, head of battery research and
technology at Daimler.
Over the past year, researchers at Mercedes-Benz have used an
IBM quantum computer to learn more about the chemical reaction
between lithium and sulfur by modeling the energy between certain
molecules, among other experiments, he said.
Mercedes-Benz researchers have also identified certain quantum
algorithms that could eventually help with simulating battery
chemistry once a commercial-grade quantum computer becomes
available, he added.
Write to Sara Castellanos at sara.castellanos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2020 06:14 ET (11:14 GMT)
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