Xanadu Secures Up to USD $10 Million in Additional DARPA Support to Accelerate Quantum R&D Roadmap

The one-year extension would direct most of the funding toward critical research and development components while supporting continued DARPA evaluation.

Rhea-AI Summary

Xanadu (XNDU) has received provisional approval for up to USD $10 million in project funding under DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.

The one-year contract extension builds on Xanadu’s Stage B work. Over the next 12 months, the company expects to provide regular progress reports to DARPA and allocate most of the funding to advancing critical components of its research and development roadmap. Successful completion of Stage B evaluations maintains its path through the program, where quantum computer concepts will undergo formal verification and validation to assess whether they can be built and operated as designed.

2 points · 0 major

PositiveiHow this balance works

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0 major · 2 points

Hollow bars mark forward-looking points. How the balance works

Positive

• Moderate pointDARPA funding provisionally approved for up to USD $10 million supports a one-year contract extension. 1.1% of market cap
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Xanadu expects to allocate most of the funding to advancing critical research and development components.

Negative

• Minor pointFunding approval remains provisional.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Continued progress through QBI depends on successful completion of Stage B evaluations.

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Market Reaction – XNDU

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On Oct 19, the day this news came out, the latest delayed price for XNDU is 2.96% above the previous close. The latest delayed price is $3.13.

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Key Figures

DARPA project funding: up to USD $10 million Contract extension: one year

DARPA project funding

up to USD $10 million

Provisional approval under DARPA’s QBI

Contract extension

one year

DARPA QBI project

Key Terms

fault-tolerant, formal verification

2 terms

fault-tolerant technical

"toward fault-tolerant, utility-scale photonic quantum computing"

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.

formal verification technical

"undergo formal verification and validation"

Formal verification is a mathematical process that proves a system’s design meets its specifications under all possible conditions rather than relying on sample testing. Like checking every route on a map instead of driving randomly, it finds hidden design flaws early so products behave reliably and securely. For investors, formal verification lowers the chance of costly failures, recalls, security breaches or regulatory problems, signaling stronger risk control and protecting value.

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Continued DARPA investment reinforces Xanadu’s progress toward fault-tolerant, utility-scale photonic quantum computing

TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited ("Xanadu"; NASDAQ/TSX: XNDU), a leading photonic quantum computing company, today announced that it has received provisional approval for project funding worth up to USD $10 million under DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI). This one-year contract extension reflects DARPA's ongoing support and investment in Xanadu’s R&D, and builds on the company’s work in Stage B.

DARPA’s QBI program evaluates leading quantum computing architectures to determine which approaches can deliver utility-scale performance within realistic budgets and real-world timelines. Under this contract, Xanadu expects to execute a dual-purpose strategy over the next 12 months; providing regular progress reports to DARPA for continued evaluation, while directly allocating the majority of the funding to accelerate the advancement of critical components in its R&D roadmap. 

Xanadu believes that its photonic quantum computing architecture offers distinct advantages over traditional quantum systems. Most notably, it has minimal cooling requirements due to room-temperature compute operations, a modular, networkable design, and fast clock speeds. The company's latest photonic quantum computer, Aurora, not only validates the scalability and viability of Xanadu’s photonic approach by demonstrating networkability, but the Company believes it also establishes a foundation for all future fault-tolerant quantum systems—systems built to tackle the world's most intractable problems.

“Ongoing participation in QBI reinforces Xanadu's goal of developing quantum computing solutions that deliver practical value across industries, including drug discovery, advanced chemistry, aerospace, defense, and AI,” said Dr. Christian Weedbrook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xanadu.

Successful completion of Stage B evaluations maintains Xanadu’s path through the DARPA QBI program, where quantum computer concepts will undergo formal verification and validation to ensure they can be constructed as designed and operated as intended.

About Xanadu

Founded in 2016, Xanadu is a Canadian photonic quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Xanadu is building fault-tolerant quantum computers using light, with systems designed to compute at room temperature. Xanadu develops both hardware and software, including PennyLane, its open-source quantum computing platform. Xanadu is the first pure-play photonic quantum computing company to list on public markets (Nasdaq/TSX: XNDU) and is recognized globally for its breakthroughs in scalable quantum technologies. Visit xanadu.ai or follow on X @XanaduAI.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target," "continue," "could," "may," "might," "possible," "potential," "predict" or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Xanadu has based these forward-looking statements on current expectations and projections about future events. These statements include: statements regarding Xanadu’s expectations with respect to the one-year contract extension of up to USD $10 million under the DARPA QBI program; and Xanadu’s expectation to establish a foundation for all future fault-tolerant quantum systems built to tackle the world's most intractable problems.

These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions, many of which are beyond the control of Xanadu. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause the actual results of Xanadu, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include: that risk that Xanadu may never receive the entire additional US $10 million under its one-year contract extension with DARPA on the timelines currently expected or at all; that Xanadu is pursuing an emerging technology, faces significant technical challenges and may not achieve commercialization or market acceptance; Xanadu's historical net losses and limited operating history; Xanadu's expectations regarding future financial performance, capital requirements and unit economics; Xanadu's use and reporting of business and operational metrics; Xanadu's competitive landscape; Xanadu's dependence on members of its senior management and its ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the potential need for additional future financing; Xanadu's ability to manage growth and expand its operations; potential future acquisitions or investments in companies, products, services or technologies; Xanadu's reliance on strategic partners and other third parties; Xanadu's concentration of revenue in contracts with government or state-funded entities; Xanadu's ability to maintain, protect and defend its intellectual property rights; risks associated with privacy, data protection or cybersecurity incidents and related regulations; the use, rate of adoption, and regulation of artificial intelligence and machine learning; uncertainty or changes with respect to laws and regulations; uncertainty or changes with respect to taxes, trade conditions and the macroeconomic environment; material weaknesses in Xanadu's internal control over financial reporting and its ability to maintain internal control over financial reporting and operate as a public company; the outcome of any legal proceedings or government investigations that may be commenced against Xanadu; Xanadu’s ability to issue equity or equity-linked securities in the future; and other factors described in Xanadu's filings with the SEC (www.sec.gov) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (www.sedarplus.com). These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, including that none of the risks identified above materialize; that there are no unforeseen changes to economic and market conditions, and that no significant events occur outside the ordinary course of business. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact such forward-looking statements can be found in filings and potential filings by Xanadu with the SEC and the Canadian Securities Administrators, including under the heading "Risk Factors." If any of these risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. In addition, these statements reflect the expectations, plans and forecasts of Xanadu's management as of the date of this communication; subsequent events and developments may cause their assessments to change. While Xanadu may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, they specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, unless required by applicable securities laws. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon these statements.

In addition, statements that "we believe" and similar statements reflect Xanadu’s beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to Xanadu as of the date of this communication, and while Xanadu believes such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and Xanadu’s statements should not be read to indicate that Xanadu has conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.

Contacts

Press Contact:
press@xanadu.ai
Investor Relations:
investors@xanadu.ai

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

How much additional DARPA funding has Xanadu received approval for?

Xanadu has received provisional approval for up to USD $10 million in project funding under DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. The funding relates to a one-year contract extension that builds on its Stage B work.

How does Xanadu plan to use the additional DARPA funding?

Xanadu expects to allocate most of the funding to advancing critical components of its research and development roadmap over the next 12 months. Its planned work also includes regular progress reports to DARPA for continued evaluation.