IBM is recognized as the current Company to Beat in a 2025 Gartner® report on Quantum Computing - IBM

IBM holds edge in research, product portfolio and ecosystem. Quantum computing is an emerging technology under development by companies and research outfits worldwide. In our opinion, this recognition in the recent Gartner report and research firms solidifies IBM leadership in the field, and lends credence to our vision for a quantum-centric future of computing. “IBM’s decades of experience in research with quantum computing (QC) and years of learning from deploying systems give it a competitive advantage in attracting large-scale early adopters. IBM’s strength lies in executing its long-term strategy with discipline,” reads the report, titled AI Vendor Race: IBM Is the Company to Beat in Quantum Computing. Quantum computing is a new computing framework that innately runs calculations inaccessible to today’s best computer processors and GPUs. Quantum derives its edge from a different underlying architecture, called superconducting transmon qubits, which stores and processes information in a mathematical object called the quantum circuit. Today, algorithms are emerging that employ quantum circuits to simulate materials, train new kinds of machine learning models, and perform time series predictions. Today’s quantum computers can now run certain computations that supercomputers cannot exactly simulate using brute-force methods. We predict that this year, quantum will be able to run those computations more accurately, cheaply, or efficiently than any classical compute methods—a milestone called quantum advantage. However, quantum will not replace classical computers. Rather, we predict it will form the core of a quantum-centric supercomputing architecture, where problems employ quantum circuits on quantum processing units, aided by tensors and other operations performed with classical compute hardware like GPUs, to solve problems inaccessible to any single computing architecture. IBM researchers have pursued quantum computing since the 1970s, and many of the field’s most important technical hardware and software achievements—like the development of the transmon qubit—were developed in part by IBMers. Core to our mission is bringing useful quantum computing to the world, and IBM has made its hardware accessible to users since first putting a quantum computer on the cloud in 2016. IBM also maintains the open source Qiskit Software Development Kit, preferred by 69% of quantum developers and the most preferred quantum SDK overall. We also maintain the IBM Quantum Network of 300+ academic institutions, industry clients, startups, and other partners to advance quantum computing and explore quantum use cases. Today, IBM is focused on making quantum computing a reality with the development roadmap, a transparent set of research and development milestones required for a fully realized, fault-tolerant quantum computer. Since debuting the roadmap in 2019, IBM has hit every milestone on time. This past year, the quantum computing team announced the experimental IBM Quantum Loon chip, which demonstrated critical features required for correcting errors innate to quantum computers, and the IBM Quantum Nighthawk chip, designed for clients and partners to explore quantum advantage. According to Gartner, “IBM’s quantum portfolio spans multiple industries and use cases, enabling the company to support and deliver products to a range of customers.” Additionally, the report states that “IBM’s longtime involvement in quantum computing gives it an edge in areas like research and product portfolio, as well as a foundation for ecosystems.” IBM is committed to bringing useful quantum computing to the world. Our suite of plans offer access to quantum computers with 100+ qubits, including an open plan offering 10 minutes per  month with exciting changes to come. We continue to add new features to Qiskit, and we’re continuing to enable our clients and partners to explore potentially disruptive use cases for real-world problems. Gartner, AI Vendor Race: IBM Is the Company to Beat in Quantum Computing, 8 December 2025. GARTNER is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.