IonQ Announces $54.5 Million Contract with United States Air Force Research Lab

Insider Brief

• IonQ has signed a $54.5 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to advance quantum networking, bringing IonQ’s year-to-date bookings to $72.8 million.
• The partnership with AFRL will focus on scaling, networking, and making quantum systems deployable.
• IonQ continues to expand its presence in both government and enterprise sectors, recently extending contracts with Amazon Web Services and the University of Maryland, while maintaining strong growth and doubling its revenue each year since going public.

PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in the quantum computing industry, today announced that 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 $75-95 million for the year.

Governments, businesses, and academia are investing in quantum computing to tackle complex, multi-billion-dollar problems in areas such as healthcare, 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.

By delivering on its mature – and commercially focused – technology roadmap, IonQ has emerged as one of the frontrunners in today’s quantum race. The company has hired seasoned professionals from global technology leaders such as Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Oracle, Nvidia, Google and HPE to partner with the world’s largest organizations to help deliver value. IonQ is now in its third year of significant commercial revenue and has delivered compound annual growth rates of almost 100% for sales (bookings) and nearly 225% for recognized revenue.

“We are thrilled to be at a major inflection point for the company and the industry. No other publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company has nearly doubled revenue each year since going public, nor have they approached the $100M bookings mark so quickly,” said Peter Chapman, President and CEO of IonQ. 

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.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership with IonQ,” said Michael Hayduk, Deputy Director of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate. “Working with industry partners, we can significantly advance the Department of Air Force’s efforts to integrate quantum networks into future operations, bolstering our national defense.”

“I am proud to be the leading voice in Congress to strengthen the partnership between IonQ and the Rome Air Force Research Lab which strengthens our AFRL-Rome, New York facility as the center of gravity for quantum computing research within the Department of Defense.  This collaboration is bringing new quantum computing jobs to Rome, and the work done there will ensure the U.S. remains the global defense leader,” said Congresswoman Elise Stafanik.

This AFRL contract builds upon the momentum IonQ has driven in quantum networking over the last 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 multi-million-dollar extension of its contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offer its world-class quantum computers via Amazon Braket, the quantum computing service of AWS. The company also announced a $9M deal with the University of Maryland to provide state-of-the-art quantum computing access. IonQ’s approach addresses performance and scale while simultaneously delivering enterprise-grade quantum solutions. The company’s partnership with U.S. Government agencies and departments is a testament to this approach.

To learn more about IonQ and its latest system news and business developments, visit https://ionq.com/.