IonQ announced the continuation of its strategic partnership with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and forthcoming delivery of a 100-qubit IonQ Tempo quantum system. The finalized agreement marks a key milestone in the establishment of South Korea's National Quantum Computing Center of Excellence. Under the agreement, IonQ will deliver its next-generation Tempo 100 quantum system to support KISTI's hybrid quantum-classical research initiatives.
The system will be integrated into KISTI-6 ("HANKANG"), the largest high-performance computing (HPC) cluster in Korea creating the first instance of hybrid quantum-classical onsite integration in the country. The compute cluster will be accessible through a secure private cloud environment, enabling remote access to South Korean researchers, universities, and enterprise users. KISTI will lead the development and operation of a quantum computing service and research platform designed to support both academic and enterprise applications.
KISTI has identified IonQ as the primary quantum technology provider for the project, alongside Megazone Cloud, one of South Korea's leading cloud service and infrastructure providers. 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 andungkyunkwan University.
