Good Old Ibm Is Leading The Way In The Race For Quantum Advantage

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 4, 2025, 9:39 PM

good old ibm is leading the way in the race for quantum advantage

Half a century ago, a factory in Poughkeepsie, New York, cranked out computer hardware. The profits from mainframes financed pampered employees, scientific research and a dividend that made International Business Machines the most valuable company on the planet. Now, a diminished IBM gets most of its revenue from soft things: computer programs and business services. But it’s at work on a new kind of machine that could return Poughkeepsie to its glory days. This is where it will assemble quantum computers, the magical devices designed to tackle mathematical challenges that would overwhelm an ordinary computer. If quantum delivers on its promises, engineers will use it to make giant strides in the design of drugs, vaccines, batteries and chemicals.

Last year Boston Consulting Group predicted that come 2040, quantum hardware and software providers will be taking in $90 billion to $170 billion of annual revenue. IBM has been part of this rapidly evolving technology since the turn of the century. Leading its effort: Jay Gambetta, a 46-year-old physicist from Australia who oversees 3,000 employees on six continents doing research. He will not stint quantum, since he has spent his entire career in that field. Gambetta joined IBM’s Watson Research Center, 39 miles south of the Poughkeepsie factory, in 2011 after postdoc years at Yale and then on the faculty at the University of Waterloo. He says, “While I like teaching, really I wanted to build.”

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, New York – November 12, 2025 – At the annual Quantum Developer Conference, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled fundamental progress on its path to delivering both quantum advantage by the end of... “There are many pillars to bringing truly useful quantum computing to the world,” said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow. “We believe that IBM is the only company that is positioned to rapidly invent and scale quantum software, hardware, fabrication, and error correction to unlock transformative applications. We are thrilled to announce many of these milestones today.” IBM Quantum Computers Built to Scale Advantage IBM is unveiling IBM Quantum Nighthawk, its most advanced quantum processor yet and designed with an architecture to complement high-performing quantum software to deliver quantum advantage next year: the point at which a quantum...

IBM researcher holds IBM Quantum Nighthawk chip (Credit: IBM) IBM has been at the forefront of quantum computing research and development for several decades. As one of the leaders in applied quantum computing, IBM has indicated that it expects to achieve a quantum advantage within the next two years. This milestone will signify that quantum computers can outperform classical computers in solving common workloads, ushering in a new era of computational power and problem-solving capabilities. I’m writing this from Intel Vision this week just after an announcement that the IBM Cloud, which is the most secure Cloud implementation in the market, will be providing Intel Gaudi 3 technology, and... Given that IBM is positioning quantum technology as a kind of super-accelerator for supercomputers and is one of the leaders of AI deployments with a solid track record, this partnership should help advance IBM’s...

One of the first domains where quantum advantage is expected to manifest is in chemical and material discovery. IBM is actively collaborating with Bosch in this area, leveraging quantum computing to innovate and enhance material discovery processes. Bosch has already showcased significant advantages with IBM’s current quantum hardware, indicating that quantum computing is on the cusp of delivering substantial performance improvements. The impact of quantum computing is extending into healthcare and life sciences, revolutionizing various aspects of medical research and treatment. Quantum computing is facilitating advancements in network biology, virtual screening, protein design, and more. Moderna, in collaboration with IBM, is utilizing quantum computing to develop faster and more effective mRNA vaccines.

With the ability to perform advanced analysis using 80 qubits, this partnership is paving the way for accelerated vaccine development. Quantum computing is also serving as a massive accelerator for supercomputers. The first implementation of this technology in Japan is anticipated in Q2 2025, marking a significant leap in computational capabilities. By applying current quantum techniques, analyses that would traditionally take millions of years can now be completed in under two hours. This dramatic reduction in processing time is set to transform various scientific and industrial applications. Good Old IBM Is Leading the Way in the Race for ‘Quantum Advantage’ Key Insight IBM is now leading the push toward quantum advantage by releasing new quantum processors, including “Loon” in 2025 and...

Background: IBM, working from its historic labs, is competing against deep-pocketed rivals like Google, Microsoft, and various startups to achieve quantum advantage—the moment when quantum computation overtakes classical supercomputing capabilities. In 2024, the company accelerated its roadmap with innovations in error correction and plans for even larger quantum systems over the next several years. Credit Wall Street Journal Rooting for IBM to have success in this emerging market. An excerpt from the article is below: "IBM hasn’t been associated with breakthrough innovation since its Watson AI won “Jeopardy!” in 2011. But quantum computing, which could see a breakthrough to commercialization by 2030, gives the 114-year-old stalwart of business computing a chance to reclaim some of its past glory.

It is working on larger clusters of quantum chips that it expects will enable large-scale computing in the next five years. In just the past month, the company announced a partnership with chip maker AMD to develop “quantum-centric supercomputers” and an update to its program to certify quantum developers." 🖥️⚛️ IBM’s Bold Comeback: From Mainframes to Quantum Power For decades, IBM has been synonymous with legacy systems like mainframes, ATMs, and early personal computers. Mainframes, massive machines handling millions of transactions, were the backbone of banking, airlines, government databases, and retail systems. IBM’s System/360 in the 1960s revolutionized computing, and its modern IBM Z series still powers critical industries. Over time, IBM became known more for maintaining digital infrastructure than for breakthrough innovation.

Under CEO Arvind Krishna, Big Blue has staged a comeback, and its boldest bet yet is on quantum computing, a frontier where physics meets computation. Quantum computing uses qubits, quantum bits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously, rather than traditional bits that are only 0 or 1. This allows quantum machines to explore countless solutions at once, potentially making them exponentially faster at solving problems that stump even today’s most powerful supercomputers. IBM is competing with trillion-dollar titans like Google and Microsoft, as well as ambitious startups, to achieve quantum advantage, the moment when quantum computers outperform classical ones. For IBM, success would mark a breakthrough and a chance to reclaim its place as a pioneer of transformative technology. Its Quantum System Two, cooled by liquid helium and resembling a chrome monolith, is already being used for research.

With its own chip fabrication facilities, partnerships such as one with AMD to develop quantum-centric supercomputers, and a developer community that has produced more than 3,000 research papers, IBM is laying the foundation for... Jerry Chow, head of IBM’s quantum research, has led this work since 2010, building on prototypes once confined to a cramped lab. IBM expects to unveil its first fault-tolerant, large-scale quantum computer by 2029. Analysts believe that by decade’s end, quantum computing could start generating significant revenue, much like Nvidia’s rapid ascent when AI transformed global markets. Competitors are pursuing different approaches, Google with a staged roadmap and Microsoft with unproven topological qubits, but all are racing toward the same goal: delivering practical, utility-scale systems by the early 2030s. Unlike AI, which surprised the world with its rapid adoption, the quantum revolution has been anticipated for years.

As Krishna remarks, “If it’s just us, you’ll begin to question, why should I believe you?” For him, the growing number of players chasing the same vision is proof the breakthrough is coming. 🔑 Quantum computing is no longer a distant dream. It is being built now, and the race is on to see who delivers it first. #QuantumComputing #IBM #BigBlue #Innovation #TechLeadership #FutureOfTech #AI #Supercomputing #QuantumAdvantage #DigitalTransformation 💡 Quantum-Ready Enterprises: Preparing for the Hybrid Future Quantum computing isn’t arriving all at once — it’s phasing in. Forward-thinking organizations are already building Quantum-Ready Architectures — systems designed to integrate classical and quantum computing seamlessly.

🔹 What Does “Quantum-Ready” Mean? It’s not about owning a quantum computer. It’s about designing infrastructure, data pipelines, and algorithms that can plug into quantum systems as they mature. 1️⃣ Modular Infrastructure Cloud platforms like AWS, IBM, and Azure now provide APIs that allow hybrid execution — where quantum tasks fit directly into classical workflows. 2️⃣ Quantum-Aware Developers Enterprises are training AI and data science teams in hybrid frameworks such as Qiskit, PennyLane, and Cirq — building quantum literacy today for tomorrow’s advantage. 3️⃣ Simulation Before Hardware NVIDIA’s cuQuantum and similar toolkits enable hybrid testing — running quantum logic on classical GPUs before deploying on real QPUs.

4️⃣ AI + Quantum Synergy Machine learning models are evolving to include quantum-inspired algorithms that boost performance even on classical hardware. 🔹 Why Enterprises Must Start Now ⏳ Waiting for “perfect quantum” means falling behind. Early adopters gain: ✅ Hands-on understanding of hybrid integration ✅ Competitive IP in quantum-ready algorithms ✅ Cloud partnerships for scalable experiments By the time full-scale quantum systems arrive, their workflows will already be quantum-native. 🧠 Uplatz Quantum Insight “The future enterprise isn’t just digital — it’s cognitive, hybrid, and quantum-aware. Hybrid quantum–classical architectures are how you prepare without pausing.” 📧 support@uplatz.com | 🌐 uplatz.com #UplatzQuantumSolutions #QuantumReady #HybridComputing #QuantumTransformation #EnterpriseInnovation #AI #QuantumFuture Quantum breakthroughs from Microsoft, Google & IBM suggest the long-promised tech is finally near, yet most firms are unprepared.

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang now says quantum is at an “inflection point,” but corporate America risks a Blockbuster-vs-Netflix moment. https://lnkd.in/eSDTjj3u IBM said quantum computing will hit quantum advantage in 2026 starting with chemistry use cases followed by optimization and mathematical computation. Speaking at an IBM Think keynote, Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President of IBM Quantum, said the industry has moved to solving problems in a hybrid way with quantum systems and classical supercomputers. The next step would be leveraging quantum computing to solve problems classical computing can't. "We believe quantum advantage will actually happen by 2026," said Gambetta.

"And it's not just us. It's a community of researchers. Every month, every week new papers are put out with different examples." "We're going to see quantum advantage in chemistry first, followed closely by optimization. And third, there is a lot of exciting work in mathematical problems where the teams are exploring AI quantum machine learning problems that could even have an impact in AI in the future." IBM CEO Arvind Krishna noted in his Think keynote that bigger things were on tap for quantum computing and scale will occur "in the 4-, maybe 5 year time frame."

"Quantum is no longer science fiction. It's now in the realm of engineering. And when you're in the realm of engineering, the question becomes, how do you get that next step? And then these systems are going to be at a scale that is going to be truly remarkable and truly surprising."

Good Old Ibm Is Leading The Way In The Race For Quantum Advantage

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