World’s first fault-tolerant quantum PC from IBM to launch by 2029

IBM plans to launch the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, named Quantum Starling, by 2029. This system will feature 200 logical qubits capable of performing over 100 million quantum operations, representing a 20,000-fold increase in operational capacity compared to current quantum computers. Starling will be developed at a new IBM Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, and will serve as the foundation for a more advanced system, Quantum Blue Jay, which aims to have 2,000 logical qubits and execute one billion operations. The development of fault-tolerant quantum computers hinges on creating logical qubits from clusters of physical qubits to detect and correct errors, enabling large-scale quantum computations without faults. IBM is advancing this goal through innovations such as quantum low-density parity check (qLDPC) codes, which significantly reduce the number of physical qubits needed for error correction by about 90% compared to other methods. IBM’s roadmap also includes intermediate milestones like the Quantum Loon processor (testing qLDPC components in 2025), Quantum Kookaburra (a modular processor integrating quantum memory and logic in 2026), and Quantum Cockatoo (linking Kookaburra modules into a networked system by 2027). These efforts aim to unlock practical, scalable quantum computing with applications in drug discovery, materials science, and chemistry.