IonQ acquires UK quantum startup Oxford Ionics for nearly $1.1 billion

IonQ is acquiring UK quantum startup Oxford Ionics in a deal worth just under $1.1 billion, marking one of the largest moves yet in the quantum computing space. It’s the second big M&A move announced Monday, trailing Qualcomm’s $2.4B acquisition of Alphawave to expand in AI data centers.

According to the announcement, the acquisition will combine IonQ’s existing quantum hardware and software expertise with Oxford Ionics’ semiconductor chip technology. The goal? Build more powerful systems and lock in enterprise customers as the market starts to heat up. Shares of IonQ rose about 4% following the news.

“We believe the advantages of our combined technologies will set a new standard within quantum computing and deliver superior value for our customers through market-leading enterprise applications,” said IonQ CEO Niccolo De Masi in a release.

The deal is expected to close later this year. It consists of $1.065 billion in IonQ stock and about $10 million in cash.

Post-acquisition, IonQ plans to hit some ambitious milestones: 256 physical qubits by 2026 with 99.99% accuracy, 10,000+ physical qubits with near-perfect logical accuracy by 2027, and a staggering 2 million physical qubits by 2030, targeting reliability levels so high they’re measured in strings of nines.

The move comes as interest in quantum computing hits a new gear. Microsoft and Alphabet recently touted chip breakthroughs, and investors are watching closely as companies race to build machines that can tackle problems far beyond the reach of classical computers.

IonQ’s CEO has made no secret of his ambitions, telling CNBC he wants the company to become the “800-pound gorilla” in the quantum world.

IonQ, which went public via SPAC in 2021, is down about 6% year to date. But zoom out, and it’s one of the market’s bigger comeback stories—shares are still up over 400% compared to this time last year.

Oxford Ionics was founded in 2019 by Dr. Chris Ballance and Dr. Tom Harty, both of whom hold world records in quantum performance. The company has grown into a team of 80 global experts spanning physics, quantum architecture, engineering, and software.

Backed by investors like Braavos, Oxford Science Enterprises, Lansdowne Partners, Prosus Ventures, 2xN, and ARM co-founder Hermann Hauser, Oxford Ionics made major commercial strides in 2024. It sold full-stack quantum computers to the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and Germany’s Cyberagentur.

The company also holds world records across the three most critical quantum benchmarks: single- and two-qubit gate fidelity, and quantum state preparation and measurement (SPAM).