IBM and Riken unveil first IBM Quantum System Two Outside of the U.S.

IBM (IBM) and RIKEN, a national research laboratory in Japan, unveiled the first IBM Quantum System Two ever to be deployed outside of the United States and beyond an IBM Quantum Data Center. IBM Quantum System Two at RIKEN is powered by IBM’s 156-qubit IBM Quantum Heron, the company’s best performing quantum processor to-date. IBM Heron’s quality as measured by the two-qubit error rate, across a 100-qubit layered circuit, is 3×10-3 (with the best two-qubit error being 1×10-3) – which is 10 times better than the previous generation 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle. IBM Heron’s speed, as measured by the CLOPS metric is 250,000, which reflects another 10x improvement in the past year, over IBM Eagle. At a scale of 156 qubits, with these quality and speed metrics, Heron is the most performant quantum processor in the world. This latest Heron is capable of running quantum circuits that are beyond brute-force simulations on classical computers, and its connection to Fugaku will enable RIKEN teams to use quantum-centric supercomputing approaches to push forward research on advanced algorithms, such as fundamental chemistry problems.