IBM details Starling roadmap to a large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029
On 2025-06-10 IBM published a roadmap to build a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, codenamed Starling, at a new IBM Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, targeted for 2029 with on the order of 200 logical qubits capable of running 100 million quantum gates. IBM said it is moving from surface codes to quantum LDPC (qLDPC) codes to cut physical-qubit overhead by up to ~90%, and disclosed a real-time qLDPC decoder runnable on classical hardware. The roadmap names interim modular processors Loon (2025), Kookaburra (2026), and Cockatoo (2027).
A concrete, dated architecture from the field's largest superconducting program with named processors and a specific error-correction scheme (qLDPC) is a meaningful technical commitment, though deliverables remain years out, placing it at the §8 band-6 boundary rather than a near-term capability.
The shift to qLDPC codes and a real-time classical decoder, if delivered, would lower the physical-qubit overhead bar competitors must meet; the dedicated Poughkeepsie fault-tolerance data center signals IBM is committing capital infrastructure, not just publishing intent.