The Basque government has deployed an IBM Quantum System Two at the IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computational Center in San Sebastián, in Spain’s Gipuzkoa region.

It is the first IBM Quantum System Two to be installed in Europe, and the second such deployment outside of the US.

In a statement, the Basque government said the installation marks a milestone in its partnership with IBM, adding that the system will support its BasQ quantum initiative, which aims to make Euskadi an international hub for quantum technologies.

IBM announced plans to supply Fundación Ikerbasque (the Basque Foundation for Science) with a quantum computer in March 2023. At the time, the company was set to deliver a Heron-powered System One to Ikerbasque’s main campus in San Sebastian by the end of 2024, but the parties updated the deal to install a Quantum System Two instead.

First introduced in late 2023, the System Two is larger than the System One, comprising three supercooling fridges instead of one and three QPUs (quantum processing units) in one large hexagonal-shaped system. Powered by a 156-qubit IBM Quantum Heron processor, the modular computer can also be networked together with more System Twos.

When first unveiled in December 2023, IBM’s Quantum Heron processor was capable of achieving 133 fixed-frequency qubits, with a 3-4x improvement in two-qubit error rates when compared to its predecessor, the Eagle QPU. However, in April 2025, IBM announced it had launched a new quantum system, dubbed Aachen, that offered 156 qubits provided by the company’s Heron r2 processor.

The system will be used to support research into areas including the design of new materials, the optimization of industrial processes, biomedical simulation, and the improvement of artificial intelligence algorithms, the government said.

"The two-year collaboration with BasQ's team of scientists has already led to important research results in materials science and high-energy physics,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM fellow and director of IBM Research.

“Now, I'm looking forward to what our teams will accomplish as the region's growing ecosystem taps into Europe's first IBM Quantum System Two, powered by our best IBM Quantum Heron quantum processor.”

Basque President, Imanol Pradales, added: “The Basque quantum strategy will allow us to be a magnet for generating knowledge and attracting talent. It will allow us to connect with other knowledge and innovation hubs and ecosystems to gain competitiveness and development as a country. And it will also allow us to align ourselves with Europe's resilience and reindustrialization strategy, leveraging investment in infrastructure and technologies essential for the transformations we must face as a continent and country.”

In June, IBM updated its quantum roadmap, outlining its planned quantum computing deployments and forthcoming QPUs releases, including the first version of the upcoming Nighthawk QPU, slated for release later this year and offering 133 error-corrected qubits, with linked versions offering up to 1,080 qubits with a larger number of gates.

The company is also aiming to deliver Starling, a new large-scale quantum computer, by 2029. That system will be housed in a new IBM quantum data center in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is expected to perform 20,000 times more operations than today’s quantum computers.