IonQ to acquire Oxford Ionics in $1.075B transaction

IonQ (IONQ) and Oxford Ionics announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for IonQ to acquire Oxford Ionics in a transaction valued at $1.075B, which will consist of $1.065B in shares of IonQ common stock and approximately $10M in cash. The combined company expects to build systems with 256 physical qubits at accuracies of 99.99% by 2026 and advance to over 10,000 physical qubits with logical accuracies of 99.99999% by 2027. The combined company anticipates extending its innovation by reaching 2M physical qubits in its quantum computers by 2030, enabling logical qubit accuracies exceeding 99.9999999999%. Both Oxford Ionics founders, Dr. Chris Ballance and Dr. Tom Harty, are expected to remain with IonQ after the acquisition is completed, continuing their pioneering work on quantum technology development in the UK. The combined entity also plans to expand its workforce in Oxford to further develop the UK’s position as a leader in quantum computing.