April 2, 2026 at 7:00 P.M.

Olin 001 

The Dawn of Quantum Advantage

For decades, quantum computing has held the promise of solving computational problems that remain fundamentally intractable for even the world’s most powerful classical supercomputers. These challenges, found at the heart of chemistry, materials science, and complex optimization, represent the final frontier of classical computation. However, what was once a purely theoretical vision has undergone a monumental shift.

Over the last decade, the field has transitioned from proof-of-concept laboratory experiments involving only a handful of qubits to an era of global cloud accessibility and large-scale experimentation. Today, quantum workflows are no longer confined to the lab; they are routinely executed via the cloud on processors featuring hundreds of qubits, allowing users to tackle problems at a scale once thought impossible.

In this talk, I will walk you through the key milestones of this journey, beginning with IBM’s landmark launch of the first quantum computer in the cloud in 2016, to our current standing on the verge of verifiable quantum advantage in 2026, in what we coined “quantum-centric supercomputing” architectures. 

Finally, I will provide a glimpse into the near future, where we aim to realize the goal of building a fault-tolerant quantum computer before the end of the decade.

Borja Peropadre is the Senior Manager and Head of Quantum Algorithms Engineering at IBM Quantum. He is an accomplished physicist with over 15 years of experience in quantum information science (QIS), of which the last 7 have been in the the industry of quantum computing (QC). He has in-depth knowledge of quantum computing, NISQ algorithms, and superconducting hardware platforms and has published over 30 scientific publications in the field of QIS. 

Special thanks to our co-sponsors: 

• The Department of Physics
• The Department of Computer Science