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Shotgun proteomics is a powerful technology for global analysis of proteins and their post-translational modifications. Here, we investigate the faster sequencing speed of the latest Q Exactive HF mass spectrometer, which features an ultra-high-field Orbitrap mass analyzer. Proteome coverage is evaluated by four different acquisition methods and benchmarked across three generations of Q Exactive instruments (ProteomeXchange data set PXD001305). We find the ultra-high-field Orbitrap mass analyzer to be capable of attaining a sequencing speed above 20 Hz, and it routinely exceeds 10 peptide spectrum matches per second or up to 600 new peptides sequenced per gradient minute. We identify 4400 proteins from 1 μg of HeLa digest using a 1 h gradient, which is an approximately 30% improvement compared to that with previous instrumentation. In addition, we show that very deep proteome coverage can be …