IonQ reported on its first quarter results and showed good growth in revenue over both its previous quarter and the corresponding quarter in Q1 2022. For Q1 2023 the company achieved revenue of $4.3 million versus $3.8 million in Q4 2022 and $2.0 million in Q1 2022. The company had originally estimated its Q1 2023 revenue would be between $3.6 to $4.0 million but was able to accelerate some additional revenue it thought would occur after the quarter had closed. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter was $15.9 million versus $13.3 million in Q4 2022. Bookings for the quarter were at $4.1 million with an estimate of between $38 million and $42 million for the full year. And the company has raised their estimate for full year 2023 revenue to between $18.8 million to $19.2 million from their previous forecast of $18.4 million to $18.8 million.
The company ended the quarter with $525.5 million in cash, cash equivalents, and long term investments versus $537.8 million at the end of 2022. The company believes they have enough cash on hand to last until after they become cash flow positive from operations and they will not need any further financing. IonQ’s cash position is among the best of all quantum focused companies and this will give them staying power even if the quantum market does not grow as expected.
On the commercial side, the company announced some new customer collaborations including the United Arab Emirates Quantum Research Center at the Technology Innovation Institute, the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, and Bearing Point, a management and technology consultancy.
The company indicated they are building up a second Aria class processor (Aria 2) that will join Aria 1 on the public cloud later this quarter and increase capacity for customer use. IonQ also announced they have continued to make technical progress and has an operational prototype of their next generation Forte processor. A key innoviation in the Forte is that it will use a software controlled Acousto-Optic Deflector for aiming the lasers which will give it more precise control. This machine has not yet been made available to customers, but internal tests by IonQ engineers indicate it has achieved an #AQ (Algorithmic Qubit) measure of 29 versus the previous high of 25 on the predecessor Aria class machine. #AQ is a performance metric that IonQ has adopted because they feel it is a better indication of performance for actual quantum algorithms.
Additional information concerning IonQ’s Q1 earnings announcement can be found in a press release here, the SEC Form 10-Q report here, and an investor update presentation dated May 2023 here.
May 11, 2023