IBM’s 2020 roadmap named Condor as a quantum processor with more than 1,000 qubits, targeted for the end of 2023. IBM’s contemporaneous explainer specified 1,121 qubits, and the company later reported that Condor reached that count in 2023. That milestone fulfilled the chip-size target IBM had announced; it does not, by itself, show that Condor delivered a broadly useful quantum advantage.
What did IBM announce in its 2020 quantum roadmap?
On September 15, 2020, IBM described a plan to scale its quantum processors, with a device called Condor targeted to exceed 1,000 qubits by the end of 2023. IBM’s roadmap announcement said it was also developing a larger dilution refrigerator to house bigger systems. The announcement was a forward-looking company plan, not a guarantee of a particular performance result. IBM’s 2020 roadmap announcement explicitly notes that its roadmap was later updated.
In a separate explainer published the same day, IBM Newsroom specified that Condor would have 1,121 qubits. It also described a 127-qubit processor called Eagle planned for 2021 and outlined longer-range plans for systems exceeding one million qubits. Those larger figures were projections, not completed milestones. IBM’s contemporaneous explainer provides the original figures.
Did IBM build the 1,000-qubit Condor chip by 2023?
IBM reported in its 2023 annual research letter that Condor had 1,121 qubits, matching the count in its 2020 explainer. This makes the result a company-reported milestone against the original chip-size target. IBM also called Condor the world’s largest quantum processor; that description is IBM’s claim, not an independent comparison in the sources cited here. IBM’s 2023 annual letter reports the milestone.
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The timeline shows how the plan developed:
| Date | Milestone | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| September 15, 2020 | IBM announces Condor as a 1,000-plus-qubit processor targeted for the end of 2023; its explainer specifies 1,121 qubits. | The company’s original target and planned count. |
| November 16, 2021 | IBM announces Eagle, a 127-qubit processor. | A preceding generation milestone; IBM said the first Eagle was for exploratory use by select IBM Quantum Network members through IBM Cloud. |
| May 10, 2022 | IBM says it had delivered earlier roadmap targets, including Eagle, and continues to target Condor for 2023. | IBM was still presenting Condor as a future goal at that point. |
| 2023 | IBM reports Condor at 1,121 qubits and describes Heron, a 133-qubit chip with tunable couplers. | The reported Condor count and a parallel focus on processor quality. |
| 2024 | IBM’s roadmap explainer says a Heron chip capable of running 5,000 gates was released. | A later milestone in IBM’s account, distinct from the original Condor target. |
For the Eagle announcement and its limited exploratory access, see IBM Newsroom’s November 2021 announcement. IBM’s continued Condor target appears in its May 2022 roadmap update; the later Heron milestone is described in IBM’s 2024 roadmap explainer.
What is IBM Condor, and what does its qubit count tell you?
Condor is IBM’s name for a quantum processor designed as part of its hardware-scaling program. Its 1,121-qubit figure describes the number of qubits on the processor; it is not a measure, by itself, of how quickly or accurately the chip can solve a useful problem.
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IBM identifies scale, quality, and speed as separate considerations. Its technical discussion of Eagle also names Quantum Volume and Circuit Layer Operations Per Second (CLOPS) as metrics it tracks alongside qubit count. A meaningful comparison therefore needs to distinguish several dimensions:
- Scale: how many physical qubits a processor contains.
- Quality: how reliably qubits and gates perform, including the effects of errors.
- Speed and circuit execution: how much computation can be carried out and how quickly.
- Connectivity and packaging: how qubits are connected and how the processor is integrated into a larger system.
- Evidence of usefulness: whether a particular task has been demonstrated, and against what comparison.
IBM’s discussion of Eagle explains the engineering challenges around packaging, connectivity, control hardware, and system scaling, as well as why qubit count is only one performance metric: IBM’s Eagle technical blog. A chip specification should not be confused with a result from a complete quantum-computing system or with proof of advantage on a specific task.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDid Condor prove quantum advantage?
The cited IBM announcements establish a processor-size milestone, but they do not establish that Condor alone demonstrated broadly useful quantum advantage. To support an advantage claim, a report would need to identify the task, the result, and the relevant comparison with classical methods. The sources cited here do not provide an independent performance evaluation or such a task-specific proof.
IBM’s 2023 account itself discussed Condor’s scale alongside work on processor quality, including the smaller 133-qubit Heron chip. The distinction matters: a processor with more qubits may offer greater scale, but scale alone does not settle whether it can execute a particular computation more effectively.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should the roadmap be read today?
Read the 2020 announcement as a historical target that IBM later reported reaching in chip size, not as a still-upcoming deadline. Subsequent milestones belong to later roadmap updates: IBM announced Eagle in 2021, reported Condor’s 1,121-qubit count in 2023, and describes further Heron development in its 2024 explainer. The overall program involved more than adding qubits, including refrigeration, processor packaging, control electronics, connectivity, and attention to quality and execution speed.
The hardware described in these announcements is specialized research infrastructure, not a consumer chip for purchase. IBM characterized the first Eagle as available for exploratory use on IBM Cloud to select IBM Quantum Network members; that access statement was specific to Eagle’s 2021 announcement, not a general consumer-access promise.
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