IBM is backing up its quantum ambitions with a big investment. Shares rose 4% on Thursday after the company announced it will spend over $10 billion on quantum research and manufacturing in the next five years. This move supports IBM’s goal to deliver the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. Here’s what the investment includes and why investors are now taking notice of a bet IBM has been making for years.
The main focus of IBM’s plan is a system called Starling, following the company’s tradition of naming quantum systems after birds. Starling is built to handle 100 million quantum operations with 200 logical qubits, which would be a big step beyond what’s available on the market today.
IBM has been working on quantum computing longer than most companies. It started exploring the technology before 2000 and, in 2016, was the first to let the public access a quantum computer in the cloud, a service it still offers. Last year, IBM promoted its quantum research leader to head all company research, showing how important quantum is to IBM’s future.
Part of IBM’s plan includes a separate quantum foundry, supported by $1 billion in federal funding from the 2022 Chips and Science Act. According to IBM’s quantum research leader, the foundry is not just about funding, but about creating the flexibility needed to design and produce new quantum processing units quickly and reliably.
IBM shares had already gone up last week after the company was named as one of the few quantum developers to get Chips and Science Act funding. The news on Thursday boosted that momentum, and IBM’s stock did better than the flat Nasdaq that day.
