IonQ, which is building trapped ion quantum computers, has announced it will deliver its 100-qubit Tempo quantum system to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI). The system will be integrated into KISTI-6 (“HANKANG”), the largest high-performance computing (HPC) cluster in Korea, and will mark the first instance of hybrid quantum-classical onsite integration in the country.
The agreement will support KISTI’s hybrid quantum-classical initiatives, following on from an earlier announcement in which KISTI identified IonQ as its primary quantum technology provider. Once the quantum-classical integration is completed, South Korean researchers, universities, and enterprise users will have access to the compute cluster through a secure private cloud environment provided by South Korea’s Megazone Cloud. The project will support the establishment of South Korea’s National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence.
This partnership reflects IonQ’s broader momentum in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes collaborations with AIST and Toyota Tsusho in Japan, as well as other partnerships in Korea with SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor Company, Intellian Technologies, and leading academic institutions such as Seoul National University and Sungkyunkwan University.
