Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

IBM is a big computer company. It makes a new kind of computer. It is called a quantum computer.

A quantum computer is very different from a normal computer. It uses small parts called qubits. With more qubits, the computer can solve bigger problems.

On Wednesday IBM showed a new chip. Its name is Nighthawk r3. The chip has 520 qubits that people can use.

Next year IBM wants to join two of these chips. Together they will have more than 1,000 qubits. Scientists hope this machine can help them make new medicine and new materials.

company

A business that makes or sells things.

kind

A type of thing.

different

Not the same.

solve

To find the answer to a problem.

chip

A very small part that does the work inside a computer.

join

To put two things together.

machine

A thing with parts that work together to do a job.

medicine

Something you take to get better when you are sick.

Level 2 — Elementary

IBM has announced a new quantum processor called Nighthawk r3. The American company presented the chip on Wednesday, November 11, and said it will be much more powerful than the model it sells today.

Normal computers store information in bits, which are either 0 or 1. Quantum computers use qubits, which can be in a mix of both states at once. This lets them test many possible answers together, but qubits are fragile and make errors easily.

The new chip has 520 qubits that users can program. IBM says it is designed to run 10,000 operations in one calculation before errors spoil the result. The current chip, Nighthawk r2, came out in September. It can run more than 7,500 operations, but on only 120 qubits.

The most important new feature is a set of ten special links at the edge of the chip. They allow one chip to connect to another. In 2027, IBM plans to link two r3 chips and build a single system with about 1,040 qubits. The company has not said when customers will be able to use the new chip.

processor

The part of a computer that does the calculations.

powerful

Able to do a lot of work.

store

To keep something so that it can be used later.

states

The conditions that something can be in.

fragile

Easily broken or damaged.

operations

Single steps in a calculation.

feature

An important or special part of a product.

links

Connections between two things.

Level 3 — Intermediate

IBM has set out its next step toward large-scale quantum computing: a processor named Nighthawk r3 and a plan to wire two of them together into a machine with more than 1,000 qubits in 2027. The announcement, made on Wednesday, shifts the emphasis from simply adding qubits to a single chip toward connecting several chips, an approach engineers call modular design.

According to the company, the r3 is built to execute circuits of 10,000 operations across 520 programmable qubits. That is a substantial jump from the Nighthawk r2, released in September, which supports more than 7,500 operations on 120 qubits. In total each r3 chip contains 2,034 physical qubits, but only 520 of them are the ones users actually compute with; the rest serve supporting roles such as carrying signals between neighbors.

The chip keeps the square lattice layout of its predecessor, in which every qubit is connected to four others. What is new is a row of ten chip-to-chip connectors that IBM calls l-couplers. Earlier this year the company joined two older Nighthawk processors with four such couplers. Reports put the accuracy of the transfer at 99.3 or 99.4 percent, still short of IBM's own target of 99.9 percent.

Jay Gambetta, who leads the effort, stressed that useful quantum computing depends on delivering accurate results quickly, not on raw qubit counts. IBM has said it aims to show quantum advantage, the point at which a quantum machine beats the best conventional methods on a real task, by the end of 2026, and to build a fault-tolerant computer by 2029.

No release date was given for the r3. Rivals including Google and several start-ups are pursuing the same goal with different hardware, and none has yet delivered a machine that outperforms classical computers on a commercially useful problem.

large-scale

Involving very big numbers or sizes.

modular

Built from separate units that can be connected together.

execute

To carry out an instruction or a task.

programmable

Able to be given instructions by a user.

lattice

A regular pattern of points and connecting lines.

predecessor

The thing that came before the current one.

conventional

Of the usual, traditional type.

fault-tolerant

Able to keep working correctly even when some parts make errors.

Level 4 — Advanced

For years the quantum computing race was scored in qubits, with each manufacturer announcing a bigger number than the last. IBM's latest roadmap update, published on Wednesday, is a tacit admission that the scoreboard was misleading. Its centerpiece, a processor called Nighthawk r3, is described not by how many qubits it holds but by how long a calculation it can sustain: 10,000 operations across 520 programmable qubits before accumulated error renders the output meaningless.

The distinction matters because qubits are extraordinarily delicate. Each operation introduces a small chance of error, and those errors compound. A chip with thousands of unreliable qubits is less useful than one with a few hundred that can be manipulated thousands of times in succession. The Nighthawk r2, on sale since September, manages more than 7,500 operations on 120 qubits; the r3 is meant to extend the circuit while more than quadrupling the width.

Its second purpose is architectural. Along one edge sit ten connectors, which IBM calls l-couplers, designed to carry quantum states from one chip to its neighbor. In 2027 the company intends to bolt two r3 processors together into a 1,040-qubit system. This modular route sidesteps the manufacturing problem of fabricating ever larger single chips, but it stands or falls on the quality of the joins. A demonstration earlier this year, linking older processors through four couplers, achieved a transfer fidelity reported as 99.3 or 99.4 percent. IBM's target is 99.9. In a field where errors multiply, that gap is far from trivial.

It is also worth being precise about what was announced. The r3 has no release date. Each chip contains 2,034 physical qubits, of which roughly a quarter are programmable, the remainder acting as couplers and other supporting elements. And Nighthawk is IBM's vehicle for near-term quantum advantage, not for the error-corrected, fault-tolerant machine it has promised by 2029; that effort rests on a separate experimental chip line.

Jay Gambetta, the IBM executive who has long led its quantum program, framed the goal as accurate answers delivered fast, and defined advantage as a combined quantum and classical workflow beating classical computing alone. IBM has pledged to demonstrate that by the end of this year. With seven weeks left, the r3 is a statement about 2027. The 2026 promise still awaits its proof.

roadmap

A plan that sets out the stages of future development.

tacit

Understood or implied without being said directly.

sustain

To keep something going over a period of time.

compound

To add to one another so that the total grows faster and faster.

in succession

One after another, without a break.

architectural

Relating to the overall structure and design of a system.

fidelity