IBM has announced it will upgrade its Quantum System One at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) by deploying a 156-qubit IBM Heron quantum processing unit (QPU).
This will be the second time the system at UTokyo has been updated since it was first installed in 2021. Originally deployed with a 27-qubit IBM Falcon QPU, this was upgraded to a 127-qubit IBM Eagle QPU in 2023.
When first unveiled in December 2023, IBM’s Quantum Heron processor was capable of achieving 133 fixed-frequency qubits, with a 3-4x improvement in two-qubit error rates when compared to the Eagle QPU. However, in April 2025, IBM announced it had launched a new quantum system, dubbed Aachen, that offered 156 qubits provided by the company’s Heron r2 processor.
In addition to upgrading the Quantum System One, UTokyo plans to link its quantum computer to the Miyabi supercomputer later this year, providing industry and academic members of the Quantum Innovation Initiative (QII) Consortium with access to new computational capabilities.
Miyabi is a supercomputer jointly operated by UTokyo and the University of Tsukuba through the Joint Center for Advanced High Performance Computing (JCAHPC).
“This update to an IBM Heron quantum processor, linked to our Miyabi supercomputer, will allow us to further develop use cases that leverage quantum and AI capabilities, expanding the realm of computable problems in science and accelerating efforts to solve societal challenges,” said Hiroaki Aihara, EVP, UTokyo.
Jay Gambetta, VP, IBM Quantum, added: “By deploying our latest, best-performing IBM Heron QPU in UTokyo’s IBM Quantum System One, as well as connecting the system to the Miyabi supercomputer, UTokyo will now join the leading global organizations that are defining the future of supercomputing. This quantum-centric supercomputer will provide QII Consortium members with new, more powerful computing power to solve problems that we anticipate will achieve quantum advantage.”
The IBM Quantum System One at UTokyo is one of five on-premise quantum computers IBM has shipped to customers since the system was first launched in 2019.
As of early 2025, IBM has 13 utility-scale quantum computers – systems containing more than 100 qubits – operational in Poughkeepsie, NY; its German data center; and in client locations around the world.
In total, the company claims to have deployed just shy of 80 quantum systems since 2016, more than the rest of the world combined, according to publicly available data cited by IBM.
In February 2025, it was reported that between Q1 2017 and Q4 2024, IBM had almost hit $1 billion of signings since the inception of its quantum unit in the first quarter of 2017.