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IBM’s new modular architecture for cryogenic systems<br>Modular approach to housing and cooling quantum processors clears a path for interconnected, fault-tolerant systems.
Date<br>19 Aug 2026
Authors<br>Catherine Dundon<br>Matthew Hollister<br>Allie Lindler
Topics<br>Systems
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Key takeaways:
The scalability of quantum computers requires cooling infrastructure that can connect multiple processors and maintain stability across larger systems
IBM’s new modular cryogenic architecture connects quantum processors while enabling future upgrades, scalability, and multi-chip systems
A modular approach improves the reliability and expansion of quantum systems
The new modular architecture enables future hardware evolution by expanding wiring capacity and chamber volume
The architecture represents a key step on IBM Quantum Roadmap by supporting at least 2,000 qubits per cryostat and enabling the development of multi-chip, fault-tolerant quantum systems
To realize the full potential of quantum computing, we need to scale to much larger quantum systems than we have today. However, doing so requires more than just building bigger processors with more qubits. IBM’s superconducting quantum computers can only operate at temperatures colder than outer space, and they need highly specialized cooling systems to do so. For long-term scaling, refrigeration hardware has to evolve, too—and not only in terms of size.
The quantum computers of the future will depend on many processors reliably working on the same problems in tandem. Housing those processors will require larger cooling systems that can connect and work together. To address this challenge, IBM has announced a new modular architecture for cryogenic systems . By connecting processors through both quantum and classical links, information can move between chips to extend computations beyond the limitations of a single processor and enable more sophisticated quantum algorithms.
The new cryogenic architecture is a foundational component of IBM’s path toward realizing IBM Quantum Starling—the first fault-tolerant quantum computer—which is expected in 2029. We’ve already successfully demonstrated this new architecture with two coupled cryogenic cells. This demonstration provides early validation of the modular approach needed to realize our fault-tolerant quantum computers.
To get the learning, tools, and access you need to work with increasingly capable quantum systems, visit IBM Quantum Platform.
How does IBM’s modular cryogenic architecture build on existing solutions?
Today’s superconducting quantum computers are typically housed in isolated cylindrical cryostats: vacuum-insulated containers in which dilution refrigerators cool processors to temperatures near absolute zero. By maintaining dilution refrigerators’ extremely low temperatures for long periods of time, cryostats minimize sources of potential disruption such as excess heat and thermal noise, allowing quantum states to last long enough for reliable computation.
IBM Quantum System One, IBM’s first quantum computer available outside the lab, is housed in a traditional cylindrical cryostat.
This approach has enabled the quantum computers we use today, from IBM’s first cloud-accessible quantum computer in 2016, which had just five qubits, to the 1000+ qubit IBM Quantum Condor unveiled in 2023. However, this journey has also revealed the limitations of single-chip scaling, which poses enormous challenges due to spatial constraints, excessive heat generation, and qubit crosstalk.Qubit crosstalk refers to unwanted interference in quantum computers caused by operations meant for a specific qubit unintentionally affecting adjacent qubits, resulting in noise and calculation errors.
Researchers have discovered promising strategies for overcoming these limitations by distributing computational workloads across multiple connected processors, which either solve small subproblems separately and combine the results, or operate together as a more powerful unified system. These innovations have led IBM to two conclusions:
Modularity is key to the long-term scaling of quantum processors.
Traditional self-contained cryostats won’t be suitable for the connected quantum systems of the future.
IBM’s new modular cryostats use established dilution refrigerator technology to cool quantum processors, but they go beyond their predecessors by taking the form of box-shaped cryogenic “cells.” Made of solid aluminum panels and framing, each cell—a complete cryogenic environment—can house a quantum processor and reliably connect to adjacent cells. Where cylindrical cryostats require long and noisy connections between processors, the modular box format allows cells to sit tightly side-by-side with short interconnect paths.
The interior of a modular cryostat. The...