IBM's most advanced quantum computer lands in Chicago, powered by its strongest-ever Nighthawk chip

IBM, the University of Chicago, the State of Illinois and the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) unveiled an IBM Quantum System Two computer at the University of Chicago's Hyde Park Labs on November 6. It is IBM's first quantum computer in Illinois and the most advanced system the company offers, powered by the Nighthawk chip — the most powerful quantum chip IBM has ever built. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker attended the unveiling.

Nighthawk: 120 qubits, IBM's most powerful quantum chip yet

The Nighthawk chip connects 120 qubits through 218 tunable couplers in a square lattice, linking each qubit to its four nearest neighbours. IBM describes it as the most powerful quantum chip it has ever built. The system is now operational at Hyde Park Labs, available to researchers and companies.

Anchor of the National Quantum Algorithm Center, later moving to IQMP

The machine will serve as the anchor system of the National Quantum Algorithm Center (NQAC), established in 2024 by Governor Pritzker with IBM as a leading member. Hosted by the University of Chicago on the ground floor of Hyde Park Labs at 5207 S. Harper Ave., it will eventually move to the IQMP campus, now under construction on Chicago's South Side at the former U.S. Steel site — the first campus of its kind in the United States for quantum technology and microelectronics. Researchers and companies will use it to develop quantum algorithms for problems ranging from drug discovery to more efficient power grids.

Illinois bets on quantum

The University of Chicago called the installation a milestone for its quantum partnerships and for the state. IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said IBM was proud to deploy its first quantum computer of IQMP. Quantum System Two machines are already running in New York, Japan and Spain; Chicago is the latest site.

(Sources: IBM, University of Chicago, Chicago Tribune.)