Quantum computing firm IonQ will acquire cybersecurity company Elisity in an all-stock deal worth up to $1.3 billion, including up to $150 million in earnouts, as it expands its defenses against AI-driven and quantum-enabled cyber threats.
Quantum computing platform IonQ announced Monday it will acquire cybersecurity company Elisity in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion, including up to $150 million in performance-based earnouts, as the company pushes deeper into the intersection of quantum computing and enterprise security.
The deal is designed to help detect and defend against AI-driven cyberattacks targeting generative AI large-language models and AI agents, as well as to protect against emerging quantum threats, the companies said in a press release.
IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi told CNBC's Morgan Brennan on Monday that Elisity's platform will reinforce what he called his company's quantum security strategy.
"This means that we can protect not only critical infrastructure — we believe better than anyone in the world — but of course the Fortune 500," de Masi said.
The all-stock deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval. Elisity will retain its current leadership under CEO James Winebrenner.
IonQ shares fell more than 9% in afternoon trading Monday. Other quantum computing stocks also moved lower, including Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum.
The acquisition extends a period of aggressive deal-making for IonQ. In July, the company purchased semiconductor maker SkyWater Technology for $1.8 billion. Over the past year and a half, IonQ has also acquired several quantum-focused companies, most notably U.K.-based quantum computing startup Oxford Ionics.
The Elisity deal follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in June — one aimed at building a quantum computer for scientific research by 2028 and another focused on protecting government systems from cyber threats. IonQ cited those orders in its release, saying they underscore the urgency of preparing for quantum computing threats.
De Masi pointed to what the industry calls "Q-Day" — the point at which quantum computers become powerful enough to break current standard encryption software — as a driver of the deal's strategic logic.
"Our technologies help you today. They also set you up, of course, as well as you can today, for an era where the bad guys will eventually get quantum computers. They will eventually be able to marry them, I fear, with LLMs, and so the world that we're in today is already dangerous," de Masi told CNBC.
He also cited "lab leaks" from frontier AI companies — referencing OpenAI's high-profile Hugging Face hack — as an early signal of what more sophisticated quantum-enabled attacks could look like.
"Frankly, people are not ready," de Masi said.
With the Elisity acquisition, IonQ is positioning itself as a full-spectrum quantum security provider at a moment when both the federal government and enterprises are accelerating preparations for a post-encryption threat landscape. Whether the company can integrate its growing portfolio of acquisitions into a coherent platform — while managing continued stock volatility — will be a key test in the months ahead.
Sara Montes de Oca is the Editor in Chief of TechEchelon. Previously a correspondent and producer in Washington, D.C., covering business, finance, and politics.
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