IonQ lands largest quantum contract award with Air Force Research Lab

Listen to this article

College Park-based quantum computing company IonQ Friday announced it has signed a $54.5 million contract with the United States Air Force Research Lab (AFRL).

With a quarter remaining in the fiscal year, IonQ has announced $72.8 million in bookings year-to-date and reiterated its confidence in meeting or exceeding its bookings guidance of $75 million to $95 million for the year.

Governments, businesses and academia are investing in quantum computing to tackle complex, multibillion-dollar problems in areas such as health care, finance and chemistry. Pioneering in both quantum computing and networking, IonQ has nearly doubled revenue every year since going public in 2021 as the company has helped customers address their needs.

The focus of the AFRL partnership is to design, develop and deliver technology and hardware that enables the scaling, networking, and deployability of quantum systems. The project will help advance quantum networking compatibility with existing telecommunications infrastructure, interoperability with different quantum systems and devices, and deployability of systems suitable for various environments. The contract will be delivered over four years.

This AFRL contract builds upon the momentum IonQ has driven in quantum networking over the past year. IonQ announced last month that it was selected by the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) for a quantum networking contract to design a first-of-its-kind, networked system for blind quantum computing.

IonQ has seen traction and growth not just in government, but with global enterprise customers and leading academic institutions. Last month, IonQ announced a multimillion-dollar extension of its contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer its quantum computers via Amazon Braket, the quantum computing service of AWS. The company also announced a $9 million deal with the University of Maryland to provide quantum computing access.