YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. — November 12, 2025 — Leads & Copy — IBM unveiled progress toward delivering quantum advantage by the end of 2026 and fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2029 at the annual Quantum Developer Conference.
IBM unveiled IBM Quantum Nighthawk, an advanced quantum processor designed to complement high-performing quantum software to deliver quantum advantage next year. The processor will feature 120 qubits linked together with 218 next-generation tunable couplers to their four nearest neighbors in a square lattice, an increase of over 20% more couplers compared to IBM Quantum Heron.
IBM expects to deliver Nighthawk to its users by the end of 2025. The increased qubit connectivity will allow users to accurately execute circuits with 30% more complexity than on IBM’s previous processor while maintaining low error rates. This architecture will enable users to explore computationally demanding problems requiring up to 5,000 two-qubit gates. IBM expects future iterations of Nighthawk to deliver up to 7,500 gates by the end of 2026 and then up to 10,000 gates in 2027. By 2028, Nighthawk-based systems could support up to 15,000 two-qubit gates enabled by 1,000 or more connected qubits extended through long-range couplers.
IBM anticipates that the first cases of verified quantum advantage will be confirmed by the wider community by the end of 2026. IBM, Algorithmiq, researchers at the Flatiron Institute, and BlueQubit are contributing new results to an open, community-led quantum advantage tracker to encourage validation and push forward the best quantum and classical approaches.
The community tracker supports three experiments for quantum advantage across observable estimation, variational problems, and problems with efficient classical verification. Algorithmiq is leading one of the three projects in the new quantum advantage tracker. The model explores regimes so complex that it challenges all state-of-the-art classical methods tested so far, with promising experimental results. Independent simulations from researchers at the Flatiron Institute validate its classical hardness.
BlueQubit supports IBM’s efforts to track quantum advantage claims and algorithms as quantum computers enter a regime beyond classical. BlueQubit is working around peaked circuits to formalize instances where quantum computers are starting to outperform classical computers by orders of magnitude.
Qiskit, the quantum software stack developed by IBM, is now giving developers more control by scaling dynamic circuit capabilities that deliver a 24% increase in accuracy at the scale of 100+ qubits. IBM is also extending Qiskit with a new execution model that enables fine grain control and a C-API, unlocking HPC-accelerated error mitigation capabilities that decrease the cost of extracting accurate results by more than 100 times. IBM is delivering a C++ interface to Qiskit, powered by a C-API, to enable users to program quantum natively in existing HPC environments. By 2027, IBM plans to extend Qiskit with computational libraries in areas such as machine learning and optimization to better solve fundamental physical and chemistry challenges such as differential equations and Hamiltonian simulations.
IBM is also delivering milestones towards building the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. IBM is announcing IBM Quantum Loon, its experimental processor that demonstrates all the key processor components needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing. IBM Loon will validate a new architecture to implement and scale the components needed for practical, high-efficiency quantum error correction. Multiple high-quality, low-loss routing layers will provide pathways for longer, on-chip connections that go beyond nearest-neighbor couplers and physically link distant qubits together on the same chip, as well as technologies to reset qubits between computations.
IBM has proven it is possible to use classical computing hardware to accurately decode errors in real-time (less than 480 nanoseconds) using qLDPC codes, a full year ahead of schedule. Together with Loon, this demonstrates the cornerstones needed to scale qLDPC codes on high-speed, high-fidelity superconducting qubits which form the core of IBM quantum computers.
IBM announced that the primary fabrication of its quantum processor wafers is being undertaken at an advanced 300mm wafer fabrication facility at the Albany NanoTech Complex in New York, which has accelerated the speed at which IBM can learn from, improve, and expand the capabilities of its quantum processors, allowing the company to increase their qubit connectivity, density, and performance.
IBM has been able to:
Double the speed of its research and development efforts by cutting the time needed to build each new processor by at least half;
Achieve a ten-fold increase in the physical complexity of its quantum chips; and,
Enable multiple designs to be researched and explored in parallel.
Erin Angelini
IBM Communications
Edlehr@us.ibm.com
Chris Nay
IBM Communications
cnay@us.ibm.com
Source: IBM
