IBM and Japan’s RIKEN research institute have launched IBM Quantum System Two, a modular, utility-scale quantum computer designed as the foundation for quantum-centric supercomputing. This is the first time the company’s flagship quantum computing platform has been deployed outside the United States, or beyond an IBM Quantum Data Center.
The project is supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under a government-backed initiative focused on quantum and supercomputing technologies.
The system is housed at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, where it is co-located with Fugaku, one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. According to an IBM press release, IBM Quantum System Two is powered by IBM’s 156-qubit Heron processor.
Jay Gambetta, VP, IBM Quantum, said, “The new IBM Quantum System Two powered by our latest Heron processor and connected to Fugaku, will allow scientists and engineers to push the limits of what is possible.”
Heron delivers a two-qubit error rate of 3×10⁻³ across a 100-qubit layered circuit and reaches 250,000 circuit layer operations per second (CLOPS), representing a tenfold improvement in both quality and speed over the company’s previous 127-qubit Eagle processor. By connecting the quantum system directly to Fugaku through a high-speed network, researchers aim to develop hybrid quantum-classical computing techniques for applications such as chemistry and advanced algorithm development.
“By combining Fugaku and the IBM Quantum System Two, RIKEN aims to lead Japan into a new era of high-performance computing,” said Dr. Mitsuhisa Sato, Division Director of the Quantum-HPC Hybrid Platform Division, RIKEN Center for Computational Science. “Our mission is to develop and demonstrate practical quantum-HPC hybrid workflows that can be explored by both the scientific community and industry. The connection of these two systems enables us to take critical steps toward realizing this vision.”
The integration allows engineers to test low-latency communication between quantum and classical systems, as well as new software tools, compilation methods and parallelized workloads designed for quantum-centric supercomputing.
The installation builds on ongoing collaboration between IBM and RIKEN to develop algorithms capable of demonstrating quantum advantage, where quantum computers outperform classical methods on specific tasks. Recent joint research, published in Science Advances, used sample-based quantum diagonalization techniques to model the electronic structure of iron sulfides, highlighting how current quantum systems can contribute to scientific research when combined with powerful classical computing infrastructure.