IonQ to Buy Elisity for Up to $1.3 Billion to Bolster Cyber Unit

Quantum computing firm IonQ Inc. has agreed to buy Elisity Inc. for as much as $1.3 billion in an all-stock transaction in a bid to expand its cybersecurity platform to protect against artificial intelligence-assisted dangers and emerging quantum threats.

Elisity is a fast-growing enterprise security business and will add to IonQ’s expanding quantum security offerings, Maryland-based IonQ said in a statement on Monday. The price includes as much as $150 million in performance-based earnouts.

“We will be well positioned to help customers protect critical infrastructure and enterprise networks throughout the transition to the quantum era,” IonQ Chief Executive Officer Niccolo de Masi said in the statement.

IonQ is the largest publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company, with a market value of about $16 billion. Quantum companies are seeking to build machines that can solve problems classical computers can’t, with potential breakthroughs in fields like medicine, cybersecurity and finance.

Investment into the sector is booming and a number of companies have gone public as the technology advances, including France’s Pasqal Holding SA and Finland’s IQM Quantum Computers Oyj. Major banks have hired experts in quantum computing and governments are investing in the sector that has the potential to break existing encryption standards that protect data online.

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IonQ has made a string of acquisitions, including Minnesota-based chipmaker SkyWater Technology Inc. for $1.8 billion in January and UK startup Oxford Ionics for $1.1 billion last year .

Quantum computers encode information in units called qubits that, unlike classical bits, can represent combinations of zero and one. However, the machines remain experimental and are predominantly used by researchers.

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