On September 10, 2026, IBM and Lockheed Martin announced a hub for quantum innovation at ETH Zurich. Its centerpiece is Switzerland's first IBM Quantum System Two, to be installed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano.
What was announced
According to IBM's announcement, the system will run on an IBM Quantum Nighthawk processor and is expected to enter operation by the end of 2026. IBM will operate the machine; ETH Zurich will coordinate access for researchers of the ETH Domain, other Swiss universities and selected Swiss companies. The project is funded through an offset agreement between Lockheed Martin and armasuisse, Switzerland's Federal Office for Defence Procurement, and the initial agreement runs for three years.
The research areas named are chemistry, materials science, optimization and financial services, with joint development projects in quantum sensing for navigation and in the additive manufacturing of metallic alloys. ETH Zurich adds that the quantum computer will stand in the same facility as Alps, the CSCS supercomputer, and that users get cloud access to IBM quantum systems while the installation proceeds.
Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, said Switzerland will gain access to essential research infrastructure to advance the exploration of this emerging technology and educate the talent needed to support it.
Why the placement matters for the work we deliver
The detail we read twice is the address. The quantum computer goes into the building that already houses a national supercomputer, and access is coordinated by a university for researchers and selected companies. That is the shape of quantum work we see in practice: a quantum processor as one engine beside classical compute, reached through governed access, with the problem prepared on the classical side and only the combinatorial part sent to the hardware.
It is also the shape VENETA WorldModel is built around. The simulation layer runs classical and HPC simulators next to IBM Quantum, every submission leaves through VENETA Sentinel with its labels hidden and a line in the egress ledger, and every result carries its backend, qubits, shots, depth and gap to the classical optimum. Our hardware runs to date are on ibm_fez, a Heron-class system; Nighthawk is the 2026 step on the IBM roadmap we follow, and a Nighthawk-powered System Two placed beside a supercomputer is a useful picture of where that roadmap is heading in Europe.
Sources: IBM Newsroom, September 10, 2026 · ETH Zurich news. IBM, IBM Quantum and Qiskit are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.