International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) announced a series of quantum computing milestones at its annual Quantum Developer Conference, underscoring progress toward achieving quantum advantage by 2026 and fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2029.
IBM Quantum Nighthawk Targets Next-Level Complexity
At the center of IBM’s announcement is the IBM Quantum Nighthawk, a next-generation 120-qubit processor featuring 218 tunable couplers—20% more than its predecessor, the IBM Quantum Heron. The enhanced connectivity allows users to execute circuits with 30% greater complexity while maintaining low error rates.
The first Nighthawk units are expected to reach users by late 2025, capable of handling circuits with up to 5,000 two-qubit gates. IBM projects that capacity will rise to 7,500 gates by 2026, 10,000 by 2027, and 15,000 by 2028 through long-range coupler integration.
Also Read: IBM’s Quantum Roadmap Sets Stage For Real Profits Before 2030
Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow, said, “There are many pillars to bringing truly useful quantum computing to the world. We believe that IBM is the only company positioned to rapidly invent and scale quantum software, hardware, fabrication, and error correction to unlock transformative applications.”
Community-Led Tracker to Validate Quantum Advantage
IBM and its partners—Algorithmiq, the Flatiron Institute, and BlueQubit—are contributing experiments to a new open-source quantum advantage tracker. The initiative aims to benchmark quantum systems against the best classical simulation methods across problems like observable estimation and variational models.
Sabrina Maniscalco, CEO and co-founder of Algorithmiq, said, “The model we designed explores regimes so complex that it challenges all state-of-the-art classical methods tested so far. Quantum advantage will take time to verify, and the tracker will let everyone follow that journey.”
Hayk Tepanyan, CTO and co-founder of BlueQubit, added, “We are excited to help formalize instances where quantum computers are starting to outperform classical computers by orders of magnitude.”
Qiskit Enhancements Boost Accuracy and Efficiency
IBM also introduced significant upgrades to Qiskit, its open-source quantum software stack. The platform now supports dynamic circuit execution that improves accuracy by 24% on 100+ qubit systems and incorporates HPC-powered error mitigation that reduces the cost of obtaining precise results by over 100 times.
Through a new C++ interface and C-API, Qiskit integrates more seamlessly with high-performance computing environments. By 2027, IBM plans to expand Qiskit with computational libraries for machine learning and optimization applications, advancing research in fields such as chemistry and physics.
IBM Quantum Loon and Fault-Tolerance Progress
The company also unveiled IBM Quantum Loon, an experimental processor demonstrating all key hardware elements needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing. IBM achieved a tenfold decoding speedup in quantum error correction—completed one year ahead of schedule—using qLDPC codes that identify and correct quantum errors in under 480 nanoseconds.
Scaling Quantum Fabrication to 300mm Wafers
To accelerate development, IBM has transitioned quantum processor fabrication to 300mm wafer facilities at the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York. This shift has doubled R&D speed, enabled parallel testing of multiple chip designs, and increased the physical complexity of its quantum processors by tenfold.
These developments mark IBM’s latest step toward making large-scale quantum computing commercially viable, reinforcing its leadership in the race toward a fault-tolerant quantum future.
Price Action: IBM shares were trading higher by 3.02% to $323.20 at last check Wednesday.
Read Next:
Photo by LCV via Shutterstock