IBM and Lockheed Martin Partner with ETH Zurich to Deploy Switzerland’s First IBM Quantum System Two
IBM and Lockheed Martin, in an agreement with armasuisse, are establishing a national quantum innovation hub at ETH Zurich, featuring Switzerland's first…
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and defense technology giant Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) have executed an offset agreement with armasuisse—Switzerland's Federal Office for Defence Procurement—to establish a national hub for quantum innovation anchored at ETH Zurich . The agreement, tied to Swiss defense procurement obligations, will deliver the country’s first on-premises IBM Quantum System Two, scheduled for installation by late 2026 at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano .
Operated on-site by IBM under an initial three-year operational agreement through 2029, the CSCS installation will be powered by the IBM Quantum Nighthawk r2 processor . Featuring 120 programmable qubits and high-speed qubit reset architecture, Nighthawk r2 executes over 100,000 circuits per second—delivering up to 25× the circuit throughput of previous IBM Heron generation QPUs. Co-located alongside CSCS's Alps AI-enabled supercomputer, the facility establishes a quantum-centric supercomputing environment for high-performance hybrid classical-quantum workflows .
[ Swiss Quantum Innovation Hub Governance & Infrastructure Matrix ] | ||
Institutional Participant | Primary Strategic Role | Technical & Operational Deliverables |
armasuisse / Lockheed Martin | Offset Funding & Defense Co-Development | • Direct Offset Financing via Air2030 Defense Program • Quantum Sensing for GPS-Free Navigation • Additive Manufacturing for Metallic Alloys |
ETH Zurich / CSCS Lugano | Academic Lead & Facility Operator | • Host Site at CSCS (Co-located with Alps HPC) • Compute Allocation & Access Coordination • Workforce Training & Hackathon Integration |
IBM Quantum | QPU Maintenance & Cloud Integration | • Operation of IBM Quantum System Two (Nighthawk r2) • Immediate Cloud Access to IBM Quantum Fleet • 10-Year Algorithm Co-Design Framework |
ETH Zurich will coordinate compute allocation across the ETH Domain, Swiss academic institutions, national laboratories, and commercial enterprise partners . Prior to local system bring-up in Lugano, hub members receive immediate cloud access to IBM's global QPU fleet . In addition to academic research in chemistry, materials science, and financial optimization, Lockheed Martin and IBM will run dedicated defense R&D programs focused on quantum sensing for GPS-denied navigation and material optimization for additive alloy manufacturing .
The launch builds on a 70-year operational history at IBM Research Zurich and complements a recently executed 10-year joint algorithmic partnership between ETH Zurich and IBM . By leveraging arms-offset capital to deploy utility-scale quantum infrastructure, Switzerland secures a sovereign quantum-computing core integrated into European supercomputing networks .
Review the official press release via the IBM Newsroom here, read the technical breakdown on the IBM Quantum Blog here, inspect university reporting via ETH Zurich News here, and examine defense offset details from armasuisse here.
September 10, 2026
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