IonQ Inc. has agreed to acquire Elisity Inc. for $1.3 billion, the publicly traded quantum computer maker announced. The all-stock deal includes $150 million in performance incentives tied to Elisity hitting certain business milestones. The two companies expect the transaction to close by the end of the year. The purchase extends IonQ’s push into cybersecurity, a market it entered last year with its acquisition of the Swiss startup ID Quantique.
IonQ’s flagship product is a 256-qubit quantum computer called Superion 256, which debuted last month. The system uses ions, or charged particles, suspended in a vacuum, encoding data into them and reading out results through a control device built with standard chipmaking equipment. According to IonQ, that approach is more practical than the large, complex lasers typically used for the same tasks.
Elisity, meanwhile, sells a software platform that automatically maps the devices on a corporate network. It identifies employee workstations, servers and specialized endpoints such as factory sensors, then gathers technical details about each one, including the manufacturer and which users can access it. From that picture, the platform locates cybersecurity gaps, among them devices with access permissions that are too broad.
The company points to cases like a production line computer reachable from outside the factory where it sits. Elisity’s software then generates new, tighter access policies for at-risk devices. Administrators can test those policies in a built-in simulation tool before pushing them to production, and the software can revise permissions when a device’s access needs change over time.
After the deal closes, IonQ plans to extend Elisity’s vulnerability detection features, adding capabilities aimed at spotting and fixing what it calls quantum-related security risks. Those risks center on the encryption algorithms organizations use to protect data, which a hypothetical large-scale quantum computer is believed to be able to bypass. ID Quantique sells a post-quantum cryptography appliance called Solteris, along with devices that do related work such as generating the random numbers many encryption algorithms use as ciphers.
IonQ expects cross-selling opportunities in both directions. Elisity brings more than 100 clients in verticals including healthcare, financial services and manufacturing, and IonQ plans to prioritize the public sector in its go-to-market push. Chief Executive Niccolo de Masi said Elisity will bring proven enterprise policy enforcement scale and deployment experience to IonQ’s quantum security strategy and give the company a strong growth platform to serve customers and create shareholder value.
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