Quantum/Machines/IBM Nighthawk
USA · operational · Superconducting circuits
IBM Nighthawk
IBM Nighthawk is a superconducting circuits quantum computer operated by IBM in USA. It has 120 physical qubits. It ranks 17 of 43 superconducting machines in this table by physical qubit count. 11 sourced specs are in the spec sheet. 4 published benchmark or milestone records are listed below, each marked by who measured it.
Also known as IBM Quantum Nighthawk, Nighthawk r1, r2
IBM's square-lattice processor family with 120 programmable qubits, announced 12 November 2025 with r1 listed as December 2025 and r2 as September 2026. IBM's compute page shows physical qubit counts of 338 (r1) and 458 (r2) against 120 programmable qubits; the 120 figure is used here. Current cloud devices are ibm_miami and ibm_berlin (r1) and ibm_phoenix (r2). IBM states the aim of verified quantum advantage by the end of 2026; no independent verification is cited.
Spec sheet
Technical details as the builder or a paper states them, each with its own source. A blank is a fact we could not source, not a zero. Fidelity and coherence figures are in the benchmark table below.
| Spec | Value | Basis | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Nighthawk r1 (December 2025) and r2 (September 2026), 120 programmable qubits | Vendor reported | IBM says r2 has 458 physical elements including 218 couplers and per-qubit reset; r1 lists 338 physical elements on the compute page. | quantum.cloud.ibm.comibm.com |
| Topology | Square lattice with tunable couplers, nearest-neighbour coupling | Vendor reported | Third-party papers on ibm_miami and ibm_phoenix describe a 12 x 10 grid of qubits; IBM calls it a square lattice with four-degree connectivity. | newsroom.ibm.comarxiv.org |
| Max connectivity | 4 | Vendor reported | IBM says each qubit links to its four nearest neighbours; edge qubits have fewer. | newsroom.ibm.comibm.com |
| Couplers | 218 | Vendor reported | IBM announcement says 120 qubits with 218 tunable couplers; a BlueQubit preprint on ibm_phoenix states a total of 218 couplers. | newsroom.ibm.comarxiv.org |
| Native gates | CZ, SX, X, RZ | Independent | BlueQubit preprint lists the native set on Nighthawk; IBM docs name CZ as the Nighthawk two-qubit gate. | arxiv.orgquantum.cloud.ibm.com |
| Fabrication | IBM wafers at NY Creates Albany NanoTech Complex, 300 mm fab, New York | Vendor reported | IBM says primary fabrication of its quantum processor wafers moved to this 300 mm facility and shows a 300 mm Nighthawk wafer; wording is company-wide. | newsroom.ibm.comquantumcomputingreport.com |
| Software | Qiskit, Qiskit Runtime | Vendor reported | IBM docs access all cloud QPUs through QiskitRuntimeService; the November 2025 release adds a C-API and C++ interface to Qiskit. | quantum.cloud.ibm.comnewsroom.ibm.com |
| Cloud platforms | IBM Quantum Platform (us-east and eu-de regions) | Vendor reported | Compute resources page lists ibm_phoenix and ibm_miami in us-east and ibm_berlin in eu-de as of October 2026. | quantum.cloud.ibm.com |
| Access and pricing | Cloud queue; first access for Premium and Flex plan customers; platform plans from $48 to $96 per minute | Vendor reported | January 2026 report says ibm_miami opened to Premium and Flex customers first; pricing page lists platform-wide plans without naming QPUs. | thequantuminsider.comibm.com |
| Predecessor | IBM Heron | Vendor reported | IBM says Nighthawk has over 20 percent more couplers than Heron and builds on its technology stack. | quantum.cloud.ibm.comnewsroom.ibm.com |
| Roadmap | Up to 7,500 two-qubit gates by end of 2026, 10,000 in 2027, 15,000 in 2028 with 1,000+ qubits via long-range couplers | Vendor reported | Stated at IBM Quantum Developer Conference on 12 November 2025; r2 arrived in September 2026 with per-qubit reset. | newsroom.ibm.comnextplatform.com |
Published benchmark figures
These are numbers the builder or a paper reports for this machine, not results from a common test. The basis column says who measured them. What the metrics mean and why they are not comparable across technologies.
| Metric | Value | Measured | Basis | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit layer operations per second (CLOPS) | 2,000,000 | 2026-10 | Vendor reported | ibm_phoenix (Nighthawk r2) listed at 2.0M; r1 devices listed at 24K to 25K | quantum.cloud.ibm.com |
| Error per layered gate (EPLG) | 0.2367% | 2026-10 | Vendor reported | 2Q error (layered) column, ibm_phoenix (Nighthawk r2). IBM tech page quotes 3.7E-3 for the family. | quantum.cloud.ibm.com |
| Readout fidelity | 99.4202% | 2026-10 | Vendor reported | From median readout error 5.798E-3 on ibm_phoenix (Nighthawk r2) | quantum.cloud.ibm.com |
| Two-qubit gate fidelity | 99.9452% | 2026-10 | Vendor reported | Best single-coupler 2Q error 5.483E-4 on ibm_berlin (Nighthawk r1); not a device median | quantum.cloud.ibm.com |
Timeline
- 2025-11-12: Announced
- 2025-12: First operational
- 2026-10-04: Status checked: operational
More from IBM
- IBM Eagle (decommissioned, 127 qubits)
- IBM Osprey (decommissioned, 433 qubits)
- IBM Condor (operational, 1,121 qubits)
- IBM Heron (operational, 156 qubits)
- IBM Loon (operational)
- IBM Quantum System Two (Yorktown Heights) (operational)
- IBM Quantum Starling (planned)
- IBM Quantum System Two (Chicago) (under construction, 156 qubits)
Comparable superconducting machines
Closest in physical qubit count within the same technology. Counts of different qubit types are not interchangeable across technologies.
| Machine | Operator | Qubits | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBM Eagle | IBM | 127 | decommissioned |
| University of Tokyo IBM Quantum System One | University of Tokyo | 127 | operational |
| Cleveland Clinic IBM Quantum System One | Cleveland Clinic | 127 | operational |
| RPI IBM Quantum System One | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 127 | operational |
| Yonsei IBM Quantum System One | Yonsei University | 127 | operational |
| Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q | Rigetti Computing | 108 | operational |