IBM Announces Availability of Its Nighthawk r2 Quantum Processor
DCD, Monday, September 7th, 2026
IBM makes its Nighthawk r2 quantum processor broadly available via the cloud, claiming better quality and speed than r1.
IBM has announced broad cloud availability of its Nighthawk r2 quantum processor, which it calls the most complex quantum processor it has put into production, capable of executing more than 100,000 circuits per second.
The chip keeps r1's 120 qubits and 218 tunable couplers while adding 120 reset elements to reduce time spent waiting for qubits to reset.
IBM says it runs computations 25x faster than Heron and has demonstrated accurate observable estimation on circuits with more than 7,500 gates.
Nighthawk r2 will power next-generation IBM quantum systems, following IBM's pledge to invest more than $10bn in quantum over five years and its acquisition of HRL Laboratories.