This week IBM Quantum introduced a new quantum computing architecture-neutral performance speed metric called CLOPS. CLOPS is short for “Circuit Layer Operations per Second.” For those of you familiar with measuring the speed of high performance classical computers, the acronym is a nod to the metric FLOPS, or “Floating point Operations per Second.”
CLOPS joins Quantum Volume (a measurement of quantum circuit execution quality) and Number of Qubits (an indication of the size of the problem your system can handle) as one of the three essential ways that we can measure progress toward practical Quantum Advantage. Quantum Advantage signifies the point where quantum computers together with classical computing systems can do better than the classical systems alone.
Resources and articles to learn more about CLOPS and quantum computing metrics
The IBM Research Blog: Driving quantum performance: more qubits, higher Quantum Volume, and now a proper measure of speed
The technical white paper on arxiv: Scale, Quality, and Speed: three key attributes to measure the performance of near-term quantum computers
IBM Quantum head Jay Gambetta’s YouTube video: Three Metrics for Quantum Computing Performance: Scale, Quality and Speed
My Inside Quantum Technology conference keynote on November 1, 2021:
- IQT Fall: Sutor, Gasman say quantum needs to focus on what’s practical to achieve what’s possible – Inside Quantum Technology
- Fierce Electronics: IBM proposes new quantum computing speed metric: CLOPS
ZDNet article: Quantum computing: IBM just created this new way to measure the speed of quantum processors
DevClass article: Horses for courses: IBM trots out CLOPS as measure of quantum performance
