Quantinuum has announced that Japan’s national research institute RIKEN has procured its System Model H2 trapped-ion quantum computer to upgrade “Reimei-Fugaku,” a hybrid quantum-supercomputer platform in Japan.
The Reimei-Fugaku platform was launched in the spring of 2025, and combines Quantinuum’s “Reimei” quantum system with RIKEN’s “Fugaku,” one of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
According to Quantinuum, the System Model H2 procurement will give a substantial upgrade to the Reimei-Fugaku platform. Earlier this month, Quantinuum delivered its H2 system to RIKEN’s research facility near Tokyo, where assembly is already underway to replace its predecessor, System Model H1, which Reimei has been based on to date. The newer-generation, 56-qubit system is expected to provide higher-fidelity operations that can reduce time-to-solution, enable larger workloads, and support higher-value applications.
These applications include the study of chemical reactions inside biomolecules such as proteins, which the Reimei-Fugaku platform demonstrated earlier this year. In that particular experiment, RIKEN successfully simulated biomolecular reactions at an accuracy that would be infeasible for HPC to achieve in isolation.
Dr. Mitsuhisa Sato, Division Director of the Quantum-HPC Hybrid Platform Division, RIKEN Center for Computational Science, said: “Since its installation in February 2025, Reimei H1 has been widely used by JHPC-quantum users and has delivered significant results, thanks to its high fidelity and flexible qubit connectivity. The upgrade to H2 is exactly what we have been eagerly anticipating, and with its 56 qubits, we expect it to play a key role in demonstrating quantum advantage through quantum–HPC hybrid computing.”
Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President and CEO of Quantinuum, said: “We believe RIKEN’s decision to continue adopting Quantinuum systems to meet its ambitious objectives is a validation of our technology roadmap and a reflection of the success of our valued partnership. With Quantinuum and RIKEN’s combined leadership in quantum and HPC, respectively, we expect to continue pushing the boundaries of computing to address some of the most critical and complex challenges facing science and industry today.”
This development reflects the continued progress of Quantinuum and RIKEN’s collaboration to advance quantum-HPC hybrid infrastructure in Japan. Quantinuum intends to continue working with the country’s research community to accelerate real-world use cases and contribute to the growth of its quantum ecosystem.
