IBM, AMD Partner on Quantum-Centric Supercomputing

IBM (IBM) and AI chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said Tuesday they were teaming up to develop “quantum-centric supercomputing.”

“In a quantum-centric supercomputing architecture, quantum computers work in tandem with powerful high-performance computing and AI infrastructure, which are typically supported by CPUs, GPUs and other compute engines,” the companies said. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the companies would “build a powerful hybrid model that pushes past the limits of traditional computing.”

IBM shares, which entered Tuesday 9% higher this year, are 0.8% higher in premarket trading, while those of AMD are gaining 2%. AMD shares have gained 35% so far this year though Monday.

In June, IBM showcased what it called a “viable path” to building the world’s first large-scale, “fault-tolerant” quantum computer by the end of the decade. The computer, dubbed IBM Starling, is expected to be capable of performing 20,000 times the operations of quantum computers that exist today, the company said. That followed Google parent Alphabet’s (GOOGL) breakthrough late last year with its unveiling of a quantum computing chip it said can complete computations in less than 5 minutes that would take some of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years.

Despite recent breakthroughs, useful quantum computers remain many years off. Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said in early January that it would likely be more than 15 years before the world had “very useful” quantum computers, though he later turned more positive on the technology.