Computer and AI giant rolls out machine using ‘Heron’ chips using subatomic particles instead of ones and zeros

The computer and artifical intelligence technology giant IBM on Monday unveiled a new quantum computing chip and machine that the company says could serve as the building blocks of much larger and faster systems than traditional silicon-based computers.

IBM’s rollout of what it calls Quantum System Two, which uses three “Heron” cryogenically cooled chips, comes as tech rivals including Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, China’s Baidu and others are racing to develop machines that use quantum bits – subatomic particles that unlike the ones or zeros of traditional computing can be in “superposition” of both one and zero at the same time.