IonQ Advances to Final Stage of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

Funding beyond the initial obligation depends on future appropriations and DARPA funding actions.

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KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Under an agreement with a potential value of up to $300 million, IonQ will advance to Stage C of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.
• IonQ is among the elite first companies selected for Stage C — during which IonQ will deliver multiple generations of class-leading quantum systems for DARPA’s independent validation.
• The advancement reflects DARPA's confidence in IonQ's approach to building large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Following successful completion of Stage A and Stage B, it moves the company's architecture and roadmap into independent verification and validation.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading full-stack quantum platform and foundry, has advanced to Stage C of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). IonQ and DARPA have signed a Stage C agreement with a potential value of up to $300 million to continue validating IonQ’s approach to delivering large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Funding beyond the initial obligation remains subject to future appropriations and DARPA funding actions.

The Big Picture

DARPA's QBI is one of the most rigorous technology evaluation programs in the U.S. government, designed to determine whether quantum computing systems can reach utility scale — where their computational value exceeds their cost. Throughout Stages A and B, IonQ shared prototype hardware data with DARPA to support its technical roadmap. IonQ’s successful advancement to Stage C brings DARPA’s most exacting, independent review of the coming generations of IonQ’s Superion quantum systems.

IonQ is among the first companies to advance to this stage after demonstrating leadership with its technical plan and execution in earlier stages:

• Stage A - IonQ defined the technical concept for a utility-scale quantum computer.
• Stage B - IonQ developed a detailed R&D roadmap, including the technical requirements, designs, and risk-mitigation plans needed to achieve its proposed system.

Executive Perspective

"Advancing to Stage C is a significant vote of confidence in IonQ's technology roadmap and architecture for delivering quantum computing at utility scale," said Niccolo de Masi, IonQ Chairman and CEO. "We've long believed that winning the quantum race requires more than achieving technical milestones. It requires building systems that can be manufactured reliably and at scale, and that are designed to solve some of the world's most complex problems. That's not a future promise — it's happening today, with our sixth-generation quantum computer, Superion 256.”

Next Steps

Running through 2029, Stage C will welcome multiple Superion generations to DARPA’s independent verification and validation process. DARPA’s team will rigorously test IonQ’s scalable hardware and software to demonstrate performance against its technical roadmap.

Throughout the QBI process, IonQ will continue scaling its manufacturing and deployment of Superion systems. As it does, the company will take on more customers tackling a wide range of commercial, scientific, and security challenges.

“Radical simplification and rapid scale are at the heart of how we build,” said Chris Ballance, IonQ President of Quantum Computing. “The path to scale isn't more complexity – it’s stripping complexity out, so systems can be manufactured, deployed, and operated reliably at volume. That's the discipline DARPA's independent verification is now putting to the test."

About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. [NYSE: IONQ] is the world’s leading quantum platform and foundry - delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the Superion, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems. Earlier systems have helped customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve a 20x performance increase over previous quantum solutions and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.

Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. Our quantum computing services have been available through all major cloud providers since 2021, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.

Note to Investors Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our quantum computing roadmap, including our intention to continue to scale up our manufacturing and deployment of Superion systems, and our agreement with DARPA and its expected timeline and process. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “pending,” “look forward,” “accelerate,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggest,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “target,” “project,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast,” “confident,” “position,” “become,” “on track,” “ensure,” “ongoing” and other similar expressions. These statements are only predictions based on our expectations and projections about future events as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may prove incorrect, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, those described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 to be filed with the SEC. New risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can management assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement we make. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261007629257/en/

IonQ Media Contacts:
Tammy Swanson
tammy.swanson@skywatertechnology.com

Tor Constantino
tor.constantino@ionq.co

IonQ Investor Contact:
investors@ionq.co

Source: IonQ, Inc.

Key Terms

fault-tolerant technical

A fault-tolerant system is built so it keeps working correctly even when parts fail, by automatically detecting problems and shifting tasks to backups or safe modes. Think of it like a car with redundant brakes or a delivery route that has alternate roads: the service keeps running despite breakdowns. For investors, fault tolerance reduces unexpected downtime, cuts potential loss or regulatory risk, and helps preserve revenue and reputation over time.

independent verification and validation technical

Independent verification and validation is a third-party review process where an outside expert checks that a product, system or study was built correctly (verification) and actually does what it is supposed to do in real-world use (validation). Like hiring an independent inspector to confirm a house was built to code and is livable, IV&V reduces the risk of costly defects, regulatory problems or safety issues and gives investors greater confidence in the reliability of claims, timelines and future cash flows.

two-qubit gate fidelity technical

Two-qubit gate fidelity measures how accurately a quantum computer performs a basic operation that links two quantum bits (qubits). Think of it like the success rate of a two-person handshake that must be precise for a larger task; higher fidelity means fewer errors, better chances of running useful algorithms, and lower cost to correct mistakes. Investors watch it because higher fidelity signals more reliable hardware and faster progress toward commercially valuable quantum computing.