Skywater Technology Inc

IonQ has appointed two new board members, Dr. Eric Ball, a veteran finance executive, and Timothy Baxter, former SkyWater chairman and Samsung North America CEO, bringing deep capital markets and semiconductor leadership experience to its governance. The combination of Ball's large-scale financing and M&A track record with Baxter's chip industry and go-to-market expertise could be important as IonQ integrates SkyWater and scales its merchant quantum supply ambitions. The new board members do not materially change the near-term catalyst of converting government and defense programs into durable revenue, but may help with governance around execution and integration risks. IonQ's narrative projects $700.4 million revenue and $53.4 million earnings by 2029, requiring 55.3% yearly revenue growth and a $255.1 million earnings decrease from $308.5 million today, with a fair value estimate of $68.41, a 63% upside to its current price.

IonQ is strengthening its role as a merchant supplier to the broader quantum industry, most recently acquiring Nexus Photonics to add chip-scale integration of lasers, modulators and optical subsystems. The company has already been a key supplier of precision atomic clocks to quantum computing companies and government contractors, and following the $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater in May, IonQ says it has become the world's largest quantum merchant supplier. On its August 2026 earnings call, IonQ announced the Nexus Photonics deal, which supports miniaturization and mass manufacture of quantum systems and brings the company closer to data center-scale distributed quantum systems. IonQ plans to supply these critical components through the industry's first dedicated quantum photonics foundry offering at SkyWater. IonQ shares have dropped 8.1% year to date, significantly lagging the industry's 105.7% growth, and the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Rigetti Computing reported that its first two 9-qubit systems delivered in 2026 went to commercial customers, marking a notable shift from a year or two ago when commercial demand was largely absent. Management attributed a significant portion of first-half revenue growth to commercial organizations purchasing on-premises quantum systems, while the broader pipeline now spans commercial enterprises, universities, and governments. The company's $8.4 million C-DAC order for a 108-qubit system remains on track for fourth-quarter revenue recognition, and the HPE-Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center collaboration is expected to place a full 9-qubit Rigetti system into an HPC environment in 2027. D-Wave Quantum posted $3.1 million in second-quarter 2026 revenues, essentially flat year over year, with commercial enterprises accounting for roughly 62.4% of revenues, up from 45.1% a year earlier. IonQ completed its acquisition of SkyWater Technology, creating a U.S.-based quantum foundry and strengthening its control over semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging, and supply-chain capabilities.

IonQ reported second quarter 2026 revenue of $80.1 million, up 287% year over year and 20% above its own expectations, driven by deployments of its fifth-generation quantum computing systems. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $280 million to $290 million, reflecting strong first-half performance. IonQ completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology on July 31, 2026, creating a vertically integrated full-stack quantum platform company, and received its first fully featured quantum processing units from SkyWater, which are now undergoing testing. Remaining performance obligations reached $485 million, up from $122 million a year earlier, while GAAP net loss was $1.9 billion, including a $1.6 billion non-cash warrant valuation charge. The company ended the quarter with $3.0 billion in cash and investments, and expects to begin commissioning its 256-qubit systems in 2027.

US lawmakers from both parties are seeking to increase annual military spending on quantum computing by 68% to $567 million as part of defense funding legislation expected to be debated in the House later this year. A similar effort is underway in the Senate, building on Trump administration moves including a May announcement of more than $2 billion in direct federal investments and a June executive order to advance quantum research and protect federal IT systems from quantum-based cyberattacks. The push comes as China has established a $10 billion National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences, while Europe and the UK combined have committed nearly three times as much public money as the US, according to industry consultancy QBN. Despite recent breakthroughs, investor skepticism persists, with shares of pure-play quantum firms like D-Wave Quantum Inc., Infleqtion Inc., and Rigetti Computing Inc. falling sharply this year, though IonQ Inc. raised its full-year revenue forecast and recouped most losses after closing its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology Inc. The four pure-play quantum companies slated for Commerce Department grants have doubled their annual lobbying spending to $2.2 million, and the White House in July hosted a quantum tech summit with industry leaders.

Shares of quantum computing company IonQ jumped 8.6% in afternoon trading after Wedbush initiated coverage with an outperform rating and a $75 price target, and the company completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology. The deal, which received Federal Trade Commission clearance, aims to create a vertically integrated firm by giving IonQ direct control over its chip manufacturing. The positive news follows a strong first quarter that led IonQ to raise its full-year revenue outlook. Despite the gain, the stock remains 51.6% below its 52-week high of $82.09 from October 2025.

Quantum computing stocks rallied sharply on Monday, led by D-Wave Quantum's 11% surge to $20.08 after announcing a collaboration with Nasdaq Verafin to develop quantum-hybrid applications for fraud detection, and IonQ's 9% jump to $39.62 following the close of its approximately $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology. The broader NASDAQ 100 rose 1.52% amid easing Middle East tensions, amplifying the sector's deal-driven gains. Rigetti Computing and Quantum Computing rose 9% and 8% respectively, riding the risk-on sentiment despite no company-specific news, though both remain unprofitable. The Defiance Quantum ETF, which offers diversified exposure with a holdings-weighted P/E ratio of 28.34x, gained a more restrained 3% to $145.45 and is up 31% year to date.

IonQ has completed its acquisition of US semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology in a deal valued at about $1.8 billion. The transaction closed after receiving regulatory clearance, including early termination of the US Federal Trade Commission's review process. SkyWater shareholders will receive $15.00 in cash and 0.4883 shares of IonQ common stock for each SkyWater share. SkyWater now operates as a subsidiary of IonQ, with CEO Thomas Sonderman reporting to IonQ's chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi. The acquisition is expected to advance IonQ's fault-tolerant quantum computing development and strengthen its federal division for government and defense applications.

IonQ emerges as the preferred quantum computing stock over D-Wave Quantum for 2026, driven by far stronger revenue growth and a broader technology portfolio. IonQ reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $130.0 million, a 201.9% year-over-year increase, while D-Wave posted $24.6 million, up 178.5%. IonQ’s first-quarter 2026 sales reached $64.7 million, representing 755% year-over-year growth, compared to D-Wave’s $2.9 million, an 81% decline from the prior year. IonQ’s acquisition of SkyWater Technology provides end-to-end quantum chip capabilities, and its solutions span networking, cybersecurity, and space applications. D-Wave’s acquisition of Quantum Circuits expands its technology into gate-model quantum computers, and it secured a $100 million U.S. government award in May, but its revenue trajectory and narrower focus make IonQ the stronger pick.

IonQ raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $260 million and $270 million, up from the prior range of $225 million to $245 million. The company posted first-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $64.67 million, exceeding expectations of $49.79 million and marking a 755% year-over-year increase. Its remaining performance obligation, or backlog, grew more than 550% to $470 million, with commercial customers accounting for approximately 60% of total revenue. IonQ is also pursuing a $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology to vertically integrate semiconductor manufacturing and accelerate hardware development. The company is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter 2026 earnings on August 5, with the Street projecting revenue of roughly $66.5 million.

The Motley Fool highlights IonQ, SoundHound AI, and UiPath as three speculative growth stocks that may be better moonshot investments than SpaceX. IonQ leads in quantum computing accuracy with trapped-ion qubits achieving 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, though it remains far from fault-tolerant operation, and it is acquiring SkyWater for a dedicated foundry. SoundHound AI, whose shares have fallen about 30% this year, is pursuing the customer service market through its pending acquisition of LivePerson, which would add a large customer base to its voice AI platform following its earlier Amelia deal. UiPath trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.5 and a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15, and it aims to become an agentic AI orchestration leader by leveraging its robotic process automation foundation and Maestro platform, with revenue up 17% last quarter.

SkyWater Technology has surged more than 89% over the past six months, driven by strong fiscal 2025 revenue growth and its pending merger with IonQ, which is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2026. Shareholders approved the merger agreement on May 8, clearing a key milestone, with SkyWater investors set to receive $35.00 per share in a mix of $15.00 cash and IonQ stock subject to a collar. The stock still trades at a small discount to the $35 deal price, reflecting timing uncertainty around regulatory clearance and short-term volatility in IonQ's share price. Analysts view this as a structural and timing risk rather than a fundamental concern about the deal. SkyWater is a U.S.-based pure-play semiconductor foundry serving aerospace, defense, automotive, and industrial sectors through its Technology-as-a-Service model.

IonQ is advancing its commercialization roadmap with plans to deliver an operational 256-qubit system later in 2026, having already presold its first chip-based unit and completed key tape-out milestones. The company maintained a bill-of-materials target under $30 million for a future fault-tolerant system and is positioning the pending SkyWater transaction to add onshore capacity and faster prototyping. In the first quarter of 2026, adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $96.8 million, and management reaffirmed full-year adjusted EBITDA loss guidance of $310 million to $330 million. IonQ shares have gained 47.4% over the past year, underperforming the industry's 259.8% growth, and the stock trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 64.05 times versus an industry median of 4.36 times.