IBM announced the launch of its Quantum Nighthawk processor and the experimental Loon chip at the annual Quantum Developer Conference. The Nighthawk is a 120‑qubit chip that incorporates 218 next‑generation tunable couplers, a 20% increase over the previous Heron processor, and 30% more circuit complexity. IBM says the design will deliver quantum advantage by 2026 and will be available to users by the end of 2025, with future versions projected to support up to 15,000 two‑qubit gates by 2028.
The Loon chip is described as an experimental processor that demonstrates all key components required for fault‑tolerant quantum computing. The 2029 target referenced in the announcement refers to the broader goal of delivering a fault‑tolerant quantum computer, not the Loon chip itself. Loon’s role is to validate the error‑correction architecture that will underpin future fault‑tolerant systems.
IBM also highlighted a 10‑fold speedup in quantum error‑correction decoding, achieved one year ahead of schedule. The company’s shift to a 300‑mm wafer facility at the Albany NanoTech Complex has doubled development speed, increased chip complexity tenfold, raised accuracy by 24% through dynamic circuits, and cut result‑extraction costs by 100‑fold. These manufacturing and software advances reduce the time and cost required to bring new quantum processors to market.
From a business perspective, IBM’s quantum revenue already exceeds $1 billion, with projections of billions in high‑margin annual revenue starting in 2029. The Nighthawk and Loon launches position IBM to capture early‑adopter customers in finance, pharmaceuticals, and materials science, reinforcing its competitive edge against Google, Microsoft, and specialized quantum firms. The integrated approach—combining hardware, software, fabrication, and error‑correction—underscores IBM’s confidence in scaling quantum technology to commercial viability.
"We believe that IBM is the only company positioned to rapidly invent and scale quantum software, hardware, fabrication and error correction," said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research. The statement highlights IBM’s belief that the combined advances in processor design, error‑correction, and manufacturing will accelerate the company’s path to quantum advantage and fault‑tolerant computing.
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