Yonsei University has upgraded its quantum computer in South Korea with IBM Quantum Nighthawk r2, a processor IBM says will increase circuit throughput for planned research on complex biological systems.
The processor is installed in Yonsei’s IBM Quantum System One at Songdo International Campus in Incheon. IBM said it can run more than 100,000 quantum circuits per second and makes Yonsei the first participant in its Quantum Network to operate Nighthawk at its own facility.
IBM’s Yonsei announcement describes the upgrade as delivering 25 times the circuit throughput of the site’s former IBM Quantum Eagle processor. A separate IBM technical post measures a 25-fold gain against its Heron fleet, which IBM says runs about 4,000 circuits per second. IBM does not explain why the accounts use different comparison points.
Nighthawk r2 has 120 programmable qubits, 218 couplers and 120 reset elements, according to IBM. The company describes those components as 458 physical quantum elements in total. It attributes the higher throughput to faster qubit resets, which it says can cut idle time between circuit runs to as little as one microsecond.
Yonsei’s Quantum System One began operating in 2024 with a 127-qubit Eagle processor. IBM described that installation as South Korea’s first Quantum System One and the second on a university campus worldwide.
IBM said master’s and doctoral students in Yonsei’s quantum information department will be able to use the upgraded processor. Researchers in the Yonsei Bio-Quantum Initiative plan to combine conventional and quantum computing to study complex biological systems, including mitochondrial electron-transport-chain mutations and Leigh Syndrome.
