Yonsei University Switches On IBM Quantum Nighthawk r2 System

What changes with Nighthawk r2

The new chip carries 120 programmable qubits, fewer than before, but it is designed to run complex circuits more efficiently through better connectivity and faster qubit reset. It executes more than 100,000 circuits per second, which IBM says is 25 times the circuit throughput of Heron, so researchers can collect more measurement results in the same time.

Most qubits are linked to four neighbors in a square lattice. That reduces the swap gates needed to move information between distant qubits, which cuts circuit overhead and the buildup of errors, according to the explanation given at the event.

IBM said it obtained accurate observable estimates on circuits of more than 7,500 gates. Jerry Chow, IBM Fellow and CTO of quantum-centric supercomputing, cited a 12-fold speedup in a neutron scattering simulation, and 3x to 19x faster total processing time in some customer and partner workloads.

Research plans

Yonsei will combine the machine with supercomputers for quantum, AI and biology work, focusing on mitochondrial electron transport chain mutations and Leigh syndrome. Researchers in the Yonsei Bio-Quantum Initiative will use a hybrid approach in which quantum and classical computers each handle the calculations they suit best. In March, the university linked its system with RIKEN's Fugaku supercomputer in Japan, together with IBM, to build a sampling environment. Work may expand to intractable cancers and age-related bioenergetic disorders.

Companies, universities, research institutes and government bodies can reach the machine via the cloud after a review of eligibility and research content. It will also support master's and doctoral education in quantum information.

IBM plans a future Nighthawk with more than 500 programmable qubits at the same throughput, linked into systems of over 1,000 qubits, with fault-tolerant quantum computing targeted for 2029.