IBM makes Quantum System Two operational in Chicago

IBM and the University of Chicago made an IBM Quantum System Two operational at Hyde Park Labs in Chicago on Nov. 6. The installation is IBM’s first quantum computer in Illinois and serves as an on-site anchor for the state’s National Quantum Algorithm Center, or NQAC.

For now, the Chicago machine is housed at Hyde Park Labs near the University of Chicago campus while its intended permanent site remains under construction. The university is hosting the system, which is planned to move to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park after that campus is complete. Neither IBM nor the university provided a firm date for the move.

IBM says the system uses its Quantum Nighthawk r2 processor. According to the University of Chicago, Nighthawk connects 120 qubits through 218 tunable couplers arranged in a square lattice. Couplers are controllable links that let neighboring qubits interact.

IBM Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said the system can deliver scientifically useful results to organizations in Illinois and elsewhere. That remains IBM’s performance claim: the organizations did not publish a deployment-specific benchmark independently establishing that capability for the Chicago machine.

The system supports the NQAC and the wider Illinois quantum ecosystem. IBM describes the center as a collaboration among universities, national laboratories, startups and industry participants that are developing quantum algorithms and applications. The University of Chicago says the installation will help researchers and companies pursue work in areas including drug discovery and power-grid optimization. That is an expected research impact, not a demonstrated production result.

IBM and its regional partners also present the deployment as a way to attract businesses, train workers and expand Illinois’ quantum economy. Those economic and regional-development outcomes remain partner expectations. At Hyde Park Labs, the system sits at street level behind windows, making the hardware visible to passersby while the park is being built.

Work disclosed through NQAC remains at the research stage. IBM says Deloitte, AbbVie and Northwestern University are developing quantum molecular-simulation approaches for drug-discovery research. EPRI and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are exploring whether quantum optimization algorithms could make power grids more efficient.