IonQ has been in the news a lot recently with several announcement of partnerships, technical developments, and company acquisitions. You can see our most recent report covering their Q1 Financial Report in our article here and you can see a complete listing of all the recent stories we have posted about them by clicking here.
So in order to get more insight into the companies strategy the Quantum Computing Report by GQI sent over a few questions over to Niccolo de Masi to better understand the thinking behind some of their recent moves. You can see our questions (labelled GQI) along with his answers (labelled NdM) below.
GQI: Why did IonQ want to raise additional At-the-Market funds when it already had over $350 million in cash already.
NdM: We’ve been clear from the start: we’re building for the long term. In the last six months, IonQ has not only invested heavily into quantum networking, but in some ways also redefined that market. We in fact doubled our TAM from just computing to networking and computing, which required more investment. We are committed to being the 800-pound gorilla in both quantum compute and networking. To do this right, we must have access to appropriate funding. Our ATM facility, which has since been terminated, gave us the flexibility to quickly and opportunistically fulfill our capital needs to the networking side of the business. That flexibility matters when you’re scaling manufacturing, advancing a multi-year roadmap, and leveraging M&A for growth. With almost $700M on the balance sheet, it should be obvious that we’re operating from a position of strength and intend to keep it that way.
GQI: IonQ has significantly increased its participation in the quantum networking market with the recent deals to acquire Qubitekk, ID Quantique, Lightsynq, and Capella. Previously you were only regarded as a quantum computing company. What drives this adjustment in their strategy?
NdM: IonQ’s strategy has always encompassed quantum networking alongside quantum computing, and organic demand for quantum networking allowed us to capitalize on this commercial opportunity sooner than expected. The recent acquisitions—including Entangled Networks, Qubitekk, a majority stake in ID Quantique, and now Lightsynq and Capella—are a planned acceleration of this vision. From inception, IonQ’s architecture has been designed to scale via photonic interconnects, enabling distributed quantum computing across networked quantum processing units (QPUs). This approach positions the company to lead not only in quantum computing and networking, but also in the development of the quantum internet. It also supports our number one priority of commercialized quantum, where everything we do is for the purpose of supporting our customers.
GQI: In the earnings call you talked about three forms of sales which are 1) On-premises, 2) Cloud, an 3) Share in a machine. We’re very familiar with the first two, but the last one isn’t talked about very much publicly. Can Niccolo share anything more about what IonQ is doing there.
NdM: You are referring to a dedicated-capacity model for customers who need consistent, high-priority access without buying their own machine outright. Think of it as dedicated access to a reserved lane on our quantum highway. This type of access is ideal for governments, labs, and startups running high-frequency or sensitive workloads, providing more flexibility for them, deeper partnerships for us.
GQI: Our view is that there are probably too many companies trying to develop quantum computers today and there will be an eventual consolidation. We’ve seen such things in the past in the semiconductor and computer industry. What is your view on that and could it possibly raise some interesting acquisition opportunities for IonQ?
NdM: We agree the quantum market will probably go through consolidation at some point and in many ways it’s already happening. We believe we are best positioned as we have already successfully commercialized quantum computing and networking—delivering real systems to paying customers, including government agencies and enterprises. Unlike companies that are focused solely on quantum prototypes, benchmarks or research, IonQ has operational quantum computers available via the cloud and on-premises, robust customer partnerships, and a clear roadmap toward scalable, fault-tolerant systems, not to mention control over 900 granted and pending patents globally. And in fact, IonQ has already been consolidating a portfolio of trapped ion and networking companies, so we agree that there will be consolidation and are in fact consolidating now. We’re always on the lookout for opportunistic M&A opportunities to help add to our growing moat of patent protected approaches and have acquired five world-class companies already. In terms of future acquisitions, we will always consider acquisitions that help us accelerate our roadmap, for example our acquisitions of ID Quantique, Qubitekk and Lightsynq.
May 13, 2025
