IonQ Awarded $7.5 Million Follow-On Funding from AFRL to Advance Full-Stack Quantum Networking

The award was included in the previously announced $21.1 million collaboration and does not represent supplemental funding.

See more from StockTitan in Google Search and AI answers. Adds StockTitan as a preferred source · opens Google

Add on Google Not now

Phase 2 expansion builds on a first-generation quantum network in Rome, New York, adding advanced optical, hardware, and software layers for real-world deployment.

COLLEGE PARK, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), the world’s leading full-stack quantum platform and foundry, today announced it has received $7.5 million in follow-on funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The Phase 2 contract expands upon the first-generation quantum network IonQ previously delivered in Rome, New York. The collaboration explores key optical, hardware, and software layers to turn the deployment into an operational, interoperable research platform.

Phase 1 established the core physical network foundation. Phase 2 equips AFRL with additional capabilities needed to connect different types of quantum hardware across non-laboratory environments. Classical routers and fiber-optic cables allow different computers to share data across the internet. Similarly, these new full-stack enhancements allow connectivity of distinct quantum systems and route quantum communication over standard telecommunications infrastructure and open air.

"This follow-on funding from AFRL underscores the strength of our long-term partnership and validates IonQ's full-stack approach. We are unlocking new domains for quantum networking by going to free space optics," said Jordan Shapiro, IonQ President, Quantum Platform. "Advanced optical hardware and automated control software are what close the gap between laboratory demonstration and field deployment. We are building quantum networking that runs on standard telecom infrastructure and through open air, and proving it on a live network."

IonQ originally announced the $21.1 million collaboration in January 2025. This award was contemplated within the originally-announced amount and is not a supplemental award. The Phase 2 funding introduces several critical hardware and software upgrades designed for real-world metropolitan and defense networks, including:

• Free-Space Optical Links: An advanced optical system with automatic pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) to establish entanglement distribution over secure, line-of-sight quantum channels within the C-band spectrum
• Quantum Frequency Converters: Two quantum frequency converter modules that deliver interoperability across heterogeneous quantum and classical hardware utilizing standard telecom wavelength infrastructure
• Automated Control Software: On-premises control-plane software upgrades supporting automated self-tests, real-time monitoring, failure handling, experiment execution, and automated results export
• Upgraded Hardware Modules: O-band-compatible network hardware, enhanced polarization controls, and upgraded quantum network interface cards (QNICs)

Together, these enhancements support AFRL’s broader roadmap for heterogeneous quantum networking, offering a practical and deployable model for future defense communications, enterprise infrastructure, and multi-node quantum networks. This builds on previous work with AFRL including our photonics interconnect milestone in April 2026 as well as deployment of an onsite IonQ quantum computing system at AFRL in Rome, New York.

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, security, 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 partnership with AFRL and the development of our quantum networking. 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/20261027364264/en/

IonQ Media Contacts:
media@ionq.co

IonQ Investor Contact:
investors@ionq.co

Source: IonQ

Key Terms

c-band spectrum technical

C-band spectrum is a slice of radio frequencies in the mid‑band range used for wireless communications and satellite services; it provides a balance of decent geographic coverage and high data capacity, which makes it valuable for mobile broadband like 5G. Regulators in different countries assign and manage specific frequency blocks within the general C‑band range and often auction or reassign them from incumbent satellite users to mobile carriers, so the exact frequency limits and licensing rules vary by jurisdiction.

quantum frequency converters technical

Devices or optical systems that change the color (frequency or wavelength) of individual photons or quantum light fields while preserving their quantum properties (such as coherence and entanglement). They accomplish this by using nonlinear optical interactions or electro-optic processes — for example, frequency mixing in nonlinear crystals or waveguides — to convert photons between bands used by different quantum hardware (like visible, near‑infrared, and telecom wavelengths). Practical performance is judged by conversion efficiency and added noise because any extra photons or loss can destroy the quantum state being transferred.

control-plane software technical

Control-plane software is the part of an IT system that manages, configures and coordinates how resources behave by making high-level decisions and maintaining the system's state. It issues policies, routing and orchestration commands (for example, user permissions, network routes, container scheduling or virtual machine placement) and communicates those instructions to the data plane — the separate layer that actually moves traffic or runs workloads — so the system operates according to the defined rules and desired state.

pointing, acquisition, and tracking technical

A three-step description of how a sensor, instrument or guidance system aims at and follows a target or scene: pointing is physically orienting the device so its field of view aims at a desired location or object; acquisition is the moment the device detects or establishes a reliable signal or data lock on that target (confirming it is within view and can be measured); tracking is continuously updating the device’s aim and measurements to follow the target’s movement or changing conditions over time. Pointing, acquisition, and tracking are used together in optics, radars, cameras, telescopes and similar systems; errors or delays in pointing can prevent acquisition, and acquisition is required before sustained tracking can occur.