IonQ shifts to vertical integration with SkyWater Technology acquisition
The $1.8 billion deal gives IonQ in-house semiconductor fabrication as it races toward fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2028
IonQ just closed its biggest bet yet. The quantum computing company finalized its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology on July 31, wrapping up a deal first announced back in January. The result is a vertically integrated quantum platform that brings semiconductor design, fabrication, and advanced packaging under one roof.
What IonQ is buying and what it’s paying
SkyWater Technology is a pure-play semiconductor foundry, the kind of company that makes chips for other people rather than designing its own products. It generated approximately $442 million in revenue in 2025, with quantum-related services growing 30% during that period.
Under the deal terms, SkyWater shareholders received $15 in cash plus 0.4883 IonQ shares for each share they held. That works out to roughly $741 million in cash and about 24 million newly issued IonQ shares.
The share dilution for existing IonQ investors is projected between 6% and 11.7%. IonQ’s cash position after the transaction sits at around $2.0 billion.
SkyWater will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, keeping its name and current CEO Thomas Sonderman at the helm. It will continue serving its existing, non-IonQ customer base while also dedicating resources to IonQ’s quantum hardware ambitions.
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The quantum roadmap this accelerates
IonQ expects this acquisition to speed up functional testing of its 200,000-physical-qubit quantum processing units, with a target date of 2028 for that milestone. IonQ is also targeting 8,000 logical qubits by 2028, and has sketched out a 2,000,000-qubit architecture. Having in-house fabrication is expected to help optimize wafer iteration cycles and co-locate cryogenic testing.
Revenue trajectory and financial picture
The combined entity is targeting approximately $800 million in annual run-rate revenue.
IonQ posted Q2 2026 revenue of $80.05 million, representing a 287% increase year-over-year. SkyWater’s $442 million in 2025 revenue provides a stable, diversified revenue base from its non-quantum customers. IonQ’s cash position of $2.0 billion post-deal provides additional runway for R&D spending.
What this means for the quantum landscape
Rivals like Rigetti Computing and Quantinuum still rely on external manufacturing partners for key components. The 6–11.7% dilution means existing shareholders are betting that the combined entity’s growth will more than offset the reduction in their ownership stake.