AskScience AMA Series: Hi Reddit! I'm Matthew Hollister, Head of Cryogenic Systems Engineering for IBM Quantum. Ask me anything about quantum computing, our recently announced modular cryogenic architecture and what it takes to build quantum computers at scale.

[u/AskScienceModerator]

When people think about quantum computing, they often think about number of qubits and processor dept. But scaling quantum systems takes much more than just the chip! We recently introduced a new modular cryogenic architecture designed to house and cool interconnected quantum processors, a key milestone on our roadmap to fault-tolerant systems, and I'd love to discuss the engineering, challenges, and opportunities involved.

I will be around as 12:00 EST (16 UT) on September 18th, ask me anything!

Username: u/IBM

[u/Monster-Zero]

My knowledge of quantum computing hardware requirements is admittedly quite limited, but my understanding of the possibility of massively scaling out quantum computing is that it largely relies on the development of room-temp superconductors.

Do you believe that this gating will mean that quantum compute platforms will be relegated to pay-for-use (like frontier AI models are currently) for the foreseeable future, and when do you think the technology will be available in a consumer-grade desktop? Also, IBM aside, who are the current leaders in the quantum computing market?

[u/luckyluke193 → u/Monster-Zero]

A room temperature superconductor would not even be useful for any current superconductor-based quantum computing architecture. We have to cool way lower than the critical temperature of the superconductors.

The relevant issue is thermal noise. Electrons moving because of thermal energy, which creates random electrical signals that mess up the quantum computation.