IBM, RIKEN unveil first IBM Quantum System Two outside of US

IBM and RIKEN, a national research laboratory in Japan, have unveiled the first IBM Quantum System Two ever to be deployed outside of the United States and beyond an IBM Quantum Data Center. 

The availability of this system also marks a milestone as the first quantum computer to be co-located with RIKEN’s supercomputer Fugaku — one of the most powerful classical systems on Earth, according to a media release. 

This effort is supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an organization under the jurisdiction of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s “Development of Integrated Utilization Technology for Quantum and Supercomputers.” 

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 3x10-3 (with the best two-qubit error being 1x10-3) — which is 10 times better than the previous generation 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle. IBM Heron’s speed, as measured by the CLOPS (circuit layer operations per second) metric is 250,000, which reflects another 10x improvement in the past year, over IBM Eagle, the media release said.

At a scale of 156 qubits, with these quality and speed metrics, Heron is the most performant quantum processor in the world, according to IBM. 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.

The new IBM Quantum System Two is co-located with Fugaku within the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS), Japan’s premier high-performance computing (HPC) center.  

“The future of computing is quantum-centric and with our partners at RIKEN we are taking a big step forward to make this vision a reality,” said Jay Gambetta, VP, IBM Quantum. “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.”

“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.”