IBM India’s Amrit Singhee on the Quest for Quantum Advantage

When you hear the phrase "quantum advantage" it can sound like sci‑fi jargon, but for Amrit Singhee, who heads IBM’s quantum research in India, it’s a very concrete goal. In a recent chat he explained that the term simply means a quantum computer doing something useful that classical machines can’t match – not just a flashy demonstration, but a real‑world edge.

"Think of it as moving from proving a point to solving a problem," Singhee said, with a hint of excitement in his voice. He pointed out that the old buzzword “quantum supremacy” was more about a one‑off experiment, whereas quantum advantage is about sustained, repeatable performance on tasks that matter to industry – be it drug discovery, materials science or complex optimization.

IBM, according to Singhee, is methodically building the hardware and software stack needed for that shift. The company’s roadmap, he noted, aims for a 127‑qubit processor by 2025, followed by a 1,000‑qubit system a few years later. "We’re not just scaling qubits; we’re improving error rates, coherence times and the whole control stack," he added, acknowledging that every extra qubit is only useful if the error budget stays low.

It’s a bit of a juggling act, he admits. The race is on to tame noise while still cranking up the number of qubits. IBM’s recent milestones – like the Eagle processor with 127 qubits and the upcoming Condor system – show progress, yet Singhee cautions that we’re still in the early chapters of the story. "You’ll hear a lot of hype, but the reality is that a practical advantage will come gradually," he remarked, pausing as if to let the nuance sink in.

One of the biggest challenges, he says, is the software side. Classical programmers need new languages, new compilers, and most importantly, new ways to think about algorithms. IBM’s Qiskit platform, open‑source and community‑driven, is a step toward that, offering tools that hide some of the quantum‑specific complexity. "We want to make quantum as approachable as cloud computing," Singhee explained, noting that the same democratization mindset helped cloud become mainstream.

From a business perspective, the timeline matters. Companies that start experimenting now can shape the kinds of problems that quantum computers will eventually solve. “It’s a bit like early adopters of the internet who learned to build websites before browsers became slick,” he analogized. The takeaway? Get familiar, run small pilots, and keep an eye on the evolving error‑correction techniques that will eventually make large‑scale quantum advantage possible.

Looking ahead, Singhee is cautiously optimistic. He envisions a future where quantum processors act as co‑processors, handling specific sub‑tasks while classical machines manage the rest. "When the hardware is ready and the software matures, that’s when you’ll see true advantage showing up in real applications," he concluded, with a smile that suggested he’s enjoying the ride as much as the destination.