Overview
- A joint announcement on Thursday said IBM and Lockheed Martin have established a quantum innovation hub anchored at ETH Zurich that will give Swiss organizations priority access to IBM quantum resources.
- IBM will operate a dedicated IBM Quantum System Two using the Nighthawk processor at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre in Lugano with deployment planned by the end of 2026.
- ETH Zurich will manage local access, workforce training and partnership programs so universities, startups and firms can use cloud-based IBM systems immediately and the dedicated machine when it arrives.
- The project is structured through an armasuisse offset agreement, which links the hub to Swiss defence procurement and underpins two initial IBM–Lockheed Martin projects on quantum sensing for navigation and additive manufacturing of metallic alloys.
- The hub builds on decades of IBM–ETH collaboration, aims to speed work in chemistry, materials and optimization, and could deepen local skills and commercial pathways as Swiss researchers move from cloud testing to a national, on‑site quantum platform.