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IBM has switched on its most advanced quantum computer, and it chose Chicago as the place to do it.
The IBM Quantum System Two was activated on November 6, 2026, in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood. It runs on the 120-qubit Nighthawk r2 processor, the company’s latest bet that quantum machines are ready to do useful work.
What IBM actually turned on
The new system is currently housed at the University of Chicago. That address is temporary.
IBM plans to move it to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, known as the IQMP. The park is still under construction on the former U.S. Steel South Works site.
The star of the show is the processor. Nighthawk r2 packs 120 qubits, the basic units of quantum information.
Nighthawk uses a square-lattice topology, which offers improved connectivity over IBM’s earlier designs.
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The numbers behind the hardware
IBM’s Nighthawk architecture delivers approximately 30% greater circuit complexity than the company’s previous Heron-class processors.
The stated goal is ambitious. IBM is aiming for quantum advantage by the end of 2026.
The Chicago launch did not happen in isolation. One day earlier, on November 5, 2026, IBM launched an error-correction platform developed with AMD and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
How Chicago landed the machine
The deployment traces back to December 2024. That is when IBM entered a partnership with the State of Illinois under Governor JB Pritzker.
The centerpiece of that deal is the National Quantum Algorithm Center, or NQAC, to be established at the IQMP. The Chicago system is one component of that broader plan.
There is also a jobs component. IBM’s FutureNow Chicago delivery center, planned for the IQMP, is expected to generate 750 full-time technology jobs.
