According to IBM's announcement on November 12, the company released the next-generation Quantum Nighthawk r3 superconducting processor, designed to execute 10,000 quantum operations across 520 programmable quantum bits. The processor comprises 2,034 physical quantum bits and features a square lattice connectivity architecture inherited from Nighthawk r2, plus 10 new inter-chip connections called l-couplers. IBM plans to connect two Nighthawk r3 processors into a single 1,040 quantum-bit system by 2027.
The currently deployed Nighthawk r2 operates 120 programmable quantum bits with throughput approximately 25 times higher than the Heron processor, with partner workloads achieving up to 19x speed improvements.