IBM Heron Chip Price, Revisions, And IBM Heron vs. Eagle
IBM Heron
IBM produced IBM Heron, a utility-scale quantum processor developed by IBM Research. IBM's current most powerful quantum processor has a tunable-coupler architecture.
Price of IBM Heron chip
IBM offers the 156-qubit Heron processor through its cloud services as part of its IBM Quantum Platform or as part of an expensive on-premises quantum system.
These methods are used to access and pay for quantum computing time on Heron processor systems:
Heron's most popular method: cloud access
Use of IBM's Qiskit Runtime service to access the Heron processor is priced by duration.
Important Note: IBM's most advanced quantum fleet includes the Heron chip, which is normally available under the more expensive Pay-As-You-Go, Flex, or Premium plans.
The overall hardware cost for an on-premises system
A full quantum computing system, like the IBM Quantum System Two (with many Heron processors), costs multi-million dollars for a large corporation or national lab.
Industries estimate that a comprehensive, enterprise-level superconducting quantum system like Heron costs $5 million to $15 million to buy and deploy. The expense of operating cryogenic equipment and skilled people is high.
Simply put, you buy the time needed to compute on a chip-using machine rather than the chip itself.
Details and Tech
Qubit count and connectivity graph determine the size and scale of circuits produced with the Heron CPU, part of a family of devices.
Important IBM Heron technical details:
Heron processors have 133 or 156 qubits, depending on revision. The 156-qubit Heron CPU outperforms the Egret CPU.
Heron was unveiled during the IBM Quantum Summit 2023 on December 4, 2023.
Architecture: This SoC improves two-qubit gates with configurable couplers.
Heron uses high-density flex cabling to transport signals for rapid, high-fidelity single-qubit and two-qubit control, building on Osprey's signal delivery advances.
Practicality and Efficiency
IBM Heron is a considerable improvement over its predecessors, with quantum-relevant performance.
Speed: The IBM Eagle, IBM's previous record, was five times slower than Heron (r1). Heron performs three to five times better than prior Eagle CPUs.
IBM claims that the Heron processor eliminates cross-talk faults in older quantum processors.
Function: IBM's upcoming quantum hardware uses Heron qubit and gate technology.
Due to its high performance, quantum computations enable faster and more complex research in chemistry, materials science, and life sciences. IBM relies on it to get quantum computing from research to applications, often via supercomputing.
Revisions (r1–r3)
Heron family design revisions often result in trade-offs or performance benefits.
Implementation
Globally, IBM Heron is installed and available to users. At now, IBM Quantum System Two, debuted with the CPU, uses it. Cloud users can access the processor. IBM Egret and Osprey preceded Heron.
Eagle vs. Heron processor performance
IBM's Heron CPU outperforms older Eagle processors.
The following factors affect Heron's performance:
Speed Improvement: The IBM Eagle, IBM's previous best performer, was five times slower than Heron (r1). Overall, Heron processors outperform Eagle CPUs by three to five times.
Cross-talk errors in older quantum processors are negated by Heron. This cross-talk reduction is necessary for quantum computing fidelity.
Technical Basis: Heron is IBM's most powerful quantum processor, while Eagle is older. It forms the qubit and gate technologies for IBM's forthcoming hardware and advances quantum computing.
Despite being better than Eagle, the Heron processor family (particularly the r2 iteration) is considered an Eagle-sized advance to Egret. This is primarily due to qubit count and connectivity determining circuit size and scale. Example: Heron r2 has 156 qubits.
The Heron r2 TLS mitigation function
The IBM Heron r2 revision's Two-Level System (TLS) mitigation reduces noise and improves quantum processor reliability.
The Heron r2 TLS mitigation function is:
Reduce Noise Impact: TLS mitigation reduces chip noise.
A new functionality controls the chip's TLS environment.
Manage TLS Environment and Reduce Noise: This functionality manages the TLS environment and reduces noise to improve chip coherence and stability.
