IQM Spark at Chungbuk National University

IQM Spark at Chungbuk National University is a superconducting circuits quantum computer operated by Chungbuk National University in South Korea. It has 5 physical qubits. It ranks 42 of 43 superconducting machines in this table by physical qubit count. 14 sourced specs are in the spec sheet. No benchmark figures are recorded for it yet.

Also known as CBNU IQM Spark

IQM says it delivered the 5-qubit Spark to Chungbuk National University in four months, then opened a Seoul office in June 2025 (trade report dated 13 May 2025). IQM's September 2026 release also refers to systems already delivered in South Korea.

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	IQM Spark 5-qubit QPU	Vendor reported	IQM lists Spark as 5 qubits with 4 couplers.	iqm.tech arxiv.org
Qubit type	transmon	Vendor reported	IQM Spark paper describes transmon qubits with transmon-based tunable couplers; family-wide statement.	arxiv.org iqm.tech
Topology	star: one central qubit coupled to four outer qubits via tunable couplers	Vendor reported	IQM Spark paper describes the star layout; family-wide statement.	arxiv.org iqm.tech
Max connectivity	4	Vendor reported	Central qubit couples to all four outer qubits; outer qubits couple only to the center.	arxiv.org
Couplers	4	Vendor reported	IQM states 5 qubits and 4 tunable couplers.	iqm.tech arxiv.org
Native gates	arbitrary X-Y rotation (PRX) and CZ	Vendor reported	IQM Spark paper transpiles circuits to X-Y rotations and CZ; the datasheet names CZ as the two-qubit gate; family-wide statement.	arxiv.org
Single-qubit gate time	20 ns	Vendor reported	IQM Spark datasheet typical single-qubit gate duration of 20 ns or less (minimum spec 40 ns); datasheet value, not measured on this unit.	iqm.tech
Two-qubit gate time	60 ns	Vendor reported	IQM Spark datasheet typical CZ duration of 60 ns or less (minimum spec 100 ns); datasheet value, not measured on this unit.	iqm.tech
Cooling and environment	dilution refrigerator (Bluefors), experiment stage at 30 mK or colder	Vendor reported	IQM Spark paper describes a commercial Bluefors dilution refrigerator; family-wide statement.	arxiv.org
Operating temperature	30 mK	Vendor reported	Paper says experiments ran with the experimental stage at 30 mK or cooler; value is an upper bound for the Spark design, not measured at this site.	arxiv.org
Power draw	11 kW	Vendor reported	IQM Spark datasheet typical mean total electrical power; datasheet value, not measured at this site.	iqm.tech
Fabrication	IQM's own fab and clean room in Espoo, Finland	Vendor reported	IQM Spark page cites IQM-owned production facilities and clean room; the whitepaper names the Espoo facility for IQM QPUs.	iqm.tech arxiv.org
Software	Cortex (Qiskit, Cirq, OpenQASM 2.0) and EXA pulse-level Python framework	Vendor reported	Software layers named in the IQM Spark paper; family-wide statement.	arxiv.org
Access and pricing	On-premises, owned by Chungbuk National University (ChungBuk Quantum Research Center), bought through Korean government procurement	Vendor reported	IQM release of 2024-12-02 on the purchase; a May 2025 report says IQM delivered the 5-qubit Spark in four months.	iqm.tech thequantuminsider.com

Timeline

2025-05: First operational
2026-10-07: Status checked: operational

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
IQM Spark at TSRI	Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute	5	operational
Rigetti Novera at Montana State University	Montana State University	9	operational
Rigetti Novera at PSC (TangleLab)	PSC	9	planned
OQC GENESIS (New York)	Oxford Quantum Circuits	16	under construction
Alice & Bob Helium	Alice & Bob	18	operational
ORNL Pathfinder	Oak Ridge National Laboratory	20	operational