Insider Brief
- Zapata Quantum has secured international patent protection for its Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) technology across Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, and the United States, strengthening its position in hardware-agnostic quantum software.
- QIR is a universal, hardware-agnostic translation layer that allows quantum applications to be written once and executed across multiple quantum hardware platforms and programming frameworks, reducing fragmentation and integration costs.
- The expanded QIR patent forms a core part of Zapata’s broader intellectual property strategy, which includes more than 60 granted and pending patents focused on foundational layers of the hybrid quantum-classical computing stack.
PRESS RELEASE — Zapata Quantum (OTC: ZPTA) (“Zapata”, “Zapata Quantum” or the “Company”), a pioneer in quantum computing application and algorithm development, today announced that its patent for Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) has been granted in Canada, Europe, Israel and Australia, in addition to its earlier U.S. grant.
QIR is a hardware-agnostic translation layer that enables quantum applications to interoperate across distinct hardware platforms and programming frameworks. With global patent protection now in place, Zapata has secured exclusive rights to this capability, allowing developers to translate a program once into a universal representation, then execute it across any connected quantum hardware backend.
Core Component of Broader IP Strategy
As the only publicly traded, hardware-agnostic pure-play quantum software company, Zapata’s intellectual property strategy is focused on protecting foundational building blocks of the hybrid quantum-classical computing stack, not just individual algorithms. The Company’s portfolio includes over 60 granted and pending patents spanning key layers of application development, interoperability, and deployment.
“QIR is the kind of broadly applicable infrastructure that helps make hybrid quantum-classical computing practical at scale so applications can move from one-off demonstrations to repeatable deployment across an evolving hardware landscape,” said Dr. Jonathan Olson, Zapata’s Strategic Advisor for Intellectual Property. “With QIR now patent-protected in major jurisdictions, we are well positioned to translate that leadership into durable, long-term value.”
QIR serves as a “universal translator” between quantum software and quantum hardware, enabling interoperability across a rapidly evolving ecosystem. Analogous to intermediate representations such as LLVM in classical computing, QIR allows developers to translate a program once into a universal representation and execute it across any connected quantum hardware backend, reducing fragmentation and simplifying application deployment.
Importantly, it also works in the reverse direction: a hardware provider that connects to QIR once can support many software tools and programming frameworks without custom integrations for each one. By reducing translation work on both sides, QIR lowers compatibility barriers and helps speed the path from development to deployment for hybrid quantum-classical applications.
Critical for Quantum Computing Evolution
As the quantum industry expands with many competing hardware approaches, standards-like layers such as QIR become increasingly important. This technology has motivated the ecosystem to collaborate on efforts such as the QIR Alliance, led by Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Quantinuum, Quantum Circuits Inc., and Rigetti Computing, to promote this standardized and interoperable framework for quantum programs.
Zapata views QIR as infrastructure technology critical to accelerating the delivery of useful quantum applications and ensuring they scale alongside advances in hardware. More broadly, these expanded QIR patent protections underscore the importance of clarity and consistency in how quantum technology is developed, adopted, and commercialized.
“We’ve been pursuing a deliberate IP strategy for more than eight years, dating back to our origins in Harvard’s quantum computing lab,” concluded Sumit Kapur, Chief Executive Officer of Zapata Quantum. “By entering the field early and staying focused on software, we were able to identify and invest in foundational technologies like QIR at a time when few others were focused on the higher layers of the stack. That long-term perspective is now paying off as the industry shifts toward scalable, interoperable quantum applications.”
