IBM aims to build the world's first large-scale, error-corrected quantum computer by 2028

IBM aims to build the world’s first large-scale, error-corrected quantum computer by 2028 | MIT Technology Review

The company says it has cracked the code for error correction and is building a modular machine in New York state.

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IBM’s Quantum Leap

IBM just unveiled its roadmap to build Starling, a modular, error-corrected quantum computer by 2028 (cloud-ready in 2029). Housed in a new Poughkeepsie data center, Starling will network dozens of chip modules to deliver 200 logical qubits—enough to run some 100 million fault-tolerant operations in a row, compared with today’s few thousand.

Cracking the Error-Correction Code

The secret sauce is IBM’s low-density parity-check error-correction scheme (about 12 physical qubits per logical qubit), paired with real-time decoding on FPGAs. After smaller demos—Loon (2025), Kookaburra (2026), Cockatoo (2027)—IBM will scale up to ~100 modules for Starling, then dream even bigger with “Blue Jay” (2,000 logical qubits) down the road. Challenges remain, but IBM says it’s moved from science to engineering in the quantum race.