Global Finance News
19 Aug 2026, 16:06
IBM Connects Modular Cryogenic Systems in Step Toward Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
IBM has reached a major engineering milestone in its quantum computing roadmap by successfully connecting and cooling two modular cryogenic systems designed to support increasingly large networks of quantum processors.
The connected modules reached temperatures below 15 millikelvin, more than 180 times colder than deep space. Each module also provides up to 12 times more wiring space than IBM’s most widely used quantum systems, enabling substantially more connections between quantum chips.
The architecture is designed to work with IBM’s L-coupler technology, which connects separate quantum processors so they can communicate and operate as part of a larger system. IBM plans to use this approach to build a quantum computer with at least 1,000 programmable qubits by 2027 and will install its Nighthawk processors in the new cryogenic modules later this year for additional testing.
The development is another step toward IBM Quantum Starling, which IBM plans to deliver in 2029 as the world’s first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer. Fault tolerance is considered a critical requirement for commercially useful quantum computing because it allows systems to detect and correct errors while performing complex calculations.
IBM has reached a major engineering milestone in its quantum computing roadmap by successfully connecting and cooling two modular cryogenic systems designed to support increasingly large networks of quantum processors.
The connected modules reached temperatures below 15 millikelvin, more than 180 times colder than deep space. Each module also provides up to 12 times more wiring space than IBM’s most widely used quantum systems, enabling substantially more connections between quantum chips.
The architecture is designed to work with IBM’s L-coupler technology, which connects separate quantum processors so they can communicate and operate as part of a larger system. IBM plans to use this approach to build a quantum computer with at least 1,000 programmable qubits by 2027 and will install its Nighthawk processors in the new cryogenic modules later this year for additional testing.
The development is another step toward IBM Quantum Starling, which IBM plans to deliver in 2029 as the world’s first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer. Fault tolerance is considered a critical requirement for commercially useful quantum computing because it allows systems to detect and correct errors while performing complex calculations.
