Quantum supremacy moves to the foundry
The $1.8bn move by quantum firm IonQ to buy foundry SkyWater Technology is a dramatic step in the maturing of the quantum ecosystem.
This is the first deal of its kind and highlights both the importance and the challenges of the manufacturing supply chain for quantum technologies.
The deal will accelerate the scaling up of qubit production to 200,000 qubits on a chip as well as enabling volume production of new substrate and sensor technologies. This has implications for Europe, as IonQ is using ion trap devices developed in Oxford, UK, and working with Infineon Technologies in Villach, Austria.
IonQ has been positioning itself aggressively for the end game, raising over $3bn in funding and acquiring a range of companies with key computing, network and sensing technologies, as we detail in quantum computing: the end game approaches
The acquisition of SkyWater is a huge step to secure the manufacturing technology and capacity it will need for all of these areas. Quantum computing, networking and sensing requires new processes that are not easily adopted by today’s foundries, so the acquisition gives IonQ control of both the development capability and capacity for the future.
The deal also gives IonQ a regular income stream from the mainstream foundry business, important when the company saw revenue of just $110m last year. In contrast SkyWater, a spin out of Cypress Semiconductor after its acquisition by Infineon Technologies in 2017, is expected to have revenue of $600m in 2026, giving IonQ a helpful revenue boost from SkyWater’s existing customers.
IonQ has more than 1,300 employees across the US, Europe and South Korea and its services are available through all major cloud providers. It is also developing quantum networking technology after the acquisition of Skyloom Global and LightSync as well as quantum sensing across land, sea, air, and space through its acquisition of Vector Atomic.
SkyWater is probably best known for its SKY130 130nm mixed signal CMOS process node that was open-sourced with Google for design prototyping. But it also provides MEMS and photonics processes at 55nm and has been working on specialized fabrication for superconducting qubits and a CMOS process that can work at cryogenic temperatures for the control electronics.
This will be key for several quantum startups, including IonQ, which is taking significant pains to reassure customers it will continue to support their business, including the quantum customers.
“Joining forces with IonQ will accelerate multiple engineering pathways for next-generation quantum chips, delivering speed, precision, and scale,” said Thomas Sonderman, Chief Executive Officer of SkyWater Technology. “Importantly, SkyWater remains fully committed to all of our semiconductor foundry customers and will continue as the quantum merchant supplier of choice with an even broader set of quantum sensing and quantum networking solutions for all of our customers and partners.”
This is particularly important as SkyWater last year bought Infineon’s 200 mm semiconductor fab in Austin, Texas (Fab 25). This deal added 400,000 wafer starts per year in capacity on nodes from 130 down to 65 nm that are critical for many industrial, automotive and defence applications and SkyWater has also entered into a long-term supply agreement with Infineon.
Fab 25 in Austin, Texas Source: SkyWater Technology
But the deal also gives IonQ a place to build quantum devices using a synthetic diamond process developed with UK-based Element Six that would be costly for another foundry to implement. For the first time, synthetic diamond quantum devices can be produced using the same tools and processes as the semiconductor industry for scalable production of diamond-based devices like quantum memories, sensors, and other microelectromechanical systems.
A key capability is the advanced packaging and integration with heterogeneous integration and 3D fabrication, enabling high-density, multi-chip modules that help to scale the quantum computer architectures.
Synthetic diamond can now be incorporated into hybrid, on-chip systems that combine the best of quantum and classical materials, for example integrating diamond-based quantum memories alongside non-diamond-based devices, such as switches, modulators, and electronic control layers.
The deal also gives IonQ a trusted environment for US military and government customers, which is particularly key for secure networking and will reassure customers that their IP can be kept secure from a competitor.
All of this will enable quantum processing units (QPU) with 200,000 qubits, which with error correction will provide 8,000 logical qubits. These are expected to start functional testing in 2028, accelerates IonQ’s plans for a 2 million-qubit chip by up to a year.
Several quantum startups have their own production sites. Rigetti builds its chips in a fab in Fremont, California, while IQM builds its chips in Espoo, Finland, and D-Wave builds its chips in its own fab in Burnaby, Canada. IBM builds its chips at the Albany NanoTech Complex in Albany, New York.
Foundries other than SkyWater have struggled to engage with the emerging quantum ecosystem, which gives IonQ a key advantage.
Leading quantum startup PsiQuantum is one exception, and has been working with GlobalFoundries on barium titanate technology for its photonic quantum system. But quantum computers do not yet have the scale sufficient for large foundries such as TSMC and Samsung to adopt the technologies need to build QPUs and the cryoCMOS digital controllers, although TSMC has been producing quantum random number generation chips.
Belgian foundry X-fab also has quantum-related offerings including integrated photonics through a deal with Ligentec and Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) built on its 180nm (XH018) platform. It is also part of the photonixFAB project, aimed at industrializing the European silicon photonics value chain including quantum technologies.
The SkyWater deal creates the first end-to-end quantum supply chain in the US, from design and prototyping through manufacturing, packaging, deployment, and ongoing service upgrades. This vertical integration reduces manufacturing timelines through reduced wafer iteration times and processing wafer prototypes in parallel to accelerate the development of fault tolerant quantum computers as well as satellite-based networks.
This also opens up important US Department of Defense programmes, such as the Microelectronics Commons network and to address critical national security vulnerabilities with quantum networking.
But it’s a big bet. SkyWater has struggled to grow in recent years, only reaching profitability in 2024, so maintaining the confidence of SkyWater’s CMOS customers will be key. Fortunately the demand for legacy process technologies in the 65 to 130nm range is still strong as TSMC has been shuttering these processes to meet demand for advanced packaging.
The move distinguishes IonQ from its well-funded competitors, particularly PsiQuantum, Quantinuum and IBM which have their own manufacturing partners and deep pockets.
www.ionq.com; www.skywatertechnology.com
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