IBM Quantum Platform
| Company type | Service |
|---|---|
| Industry | Quantum computing, Cloud computing |
| Founded | May 2016 |
| Headquarters | Yorktown Heights , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | IBM |
| Website | quantum-computing |
IBM Quantum Platform (previously known as IBM Quantum Experience) is a web-based service providing both free and subscription-based access to IBM’s cloud-based quantum computing infrastructure. The platform offers users the ability to utilize IBM’s quantum processors, access educational materials, and engage with interactive learning modules. As of June 2025, the service features 12 quantum devices available for public use at no cost. It allows the execution of algorithms and experimental runs, along with opportunities to investigate quantum computing simulations.
IBM’s quantum processors are built on superconducting transmon qubits, which are maintained within dilution refrigerators located at IBM Research’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Users interact with these systems via the quantum circuit model, commonly programmed using Qiskit, which translates user code into OpenQASM for hardware implementation.
Quantum circuits can be visually constructed using the Quantum Composer interface or coded programmatically through Jupyter notebooks hosted on authorized cloud platforms such as qBraid and OVHCloud.
History
- Initially launched in May 2016 under the name IBM Quantum Experience, the platform began with a five-qubit processor and simulator accessible solely through a graphical interface that supported a limited set of two-qubit gates.
- A community forum was introduced in July 2016 to foster user engagement; this was later replaced by a Slack workspace.
- Updates in January 2017 expanded the range of two-qubit gates, extended simulator capabilities to twenty qubits with customizable topologies, and added support for quantum assembly language interaction.
- The release of Qiskit in March 2017 facilitated easier programming and experimentation on both quantum hardware and simulators, accompanied by introductory tutorials.
- In May 2017, IBM incorporated a 16-qubit processor into the platform.
- January 2018 saw the introduction of a quantum awards initiative hosted on the platform aimed at promoting innovation.
- A significant platform upgrade occurred in May 2019, featuring web-hosted Jupyter notebooks and integration with the interactive Qiskit textbook.
- The platform underwent rebranding in March 2021: the graphical interface was renamed IBM Quantum Composer, while notebooks were designated as IBM Quantum Lab, highlighting their separate functionalities.
- By May 2024, IBM phased out Quantum Lab in favor of a serverless approach, guiding users toward cloud notebook services provided by qBraid and OVHCloud.
IBM Quantum Composer
The Quantum Composer is an IBM-developed graphic user interface (GUI) designed to allow users to construct and execute quantum algorithms and experiments. These algorithms can be run on actual quantum processors or simulators. Algorithms developed within the Quantum Composer are referred to as "quantum scores," drawing an analogy to musical notation.
Additionally, the composer supports scripting through the OpenQASM language. Below is an example targeting IBM’s 5-qubit device that creates a 3-qubit GHZ state, an essential entangled quantum state, followed by measurement that collapses it into either <math>|000\rangle</math> or <math>|111\rangle</math>.
<syntaxhighlight lang="verilog"> include "qelib1.inc" qreg q[5]; // allocate 5 qubits (initialized to |00000>) creg c[5]; // allocate 5 classical bits
h q[0]; // Apply Hadamard gate on qubit 0 cx q[0], q[1]; // CNOT gate between qubits 0 and 1
cx q[1], q[2]; // Extend entanglement to qubit 2
measure q[0] -> c[0]; // Measure qubits to collapse state measure q[1] -> c[1]; measure q[2] -> c[2]; </syntaxhighlight>
Each instruction written in OpenQASM corresponds to applying a quantum gate, initializing quantum registers, or performing measurements.
Usage
By 2025, the IBM Quantum Platform had attracted upwards of 400,000 users, who collectively authored over 2,800 research publications leveraging its quantum technologies. This extensive engagement underscores IBM’s prominent role in delivering accessible quantum computing tools for both scholarly and industry-based investigations.