Quantum computer maker IonQ to buy cybersecurity startup Elisity for $1.3B

IonQ Inc., a publicly traded supplier of quantum computers, today announced plans to acquire Elisity Inc. for $1.3 billion.

The price tag includes $150 million in performance incentives that are contingent on Elisity meeting certain business milestones. The all-stock deal is set to close by year’s end. 

IonQ’s flagship product is a 256-qubit quantum computer called Superion 256 that debuted last month. Its qubits are ions, or charged particles, suspended in a vacuum. The system encodes data into the ions and reads out processing results using a control device made with standard chipmaking equipment. IonQ says that the device is more practical than the highly complicated, bulky lasers typically used for those tasks.

The company also competes in the cybersecurity market. Last year, it bought a Swiss startup called ID Quantique that developed a series of physical data encryption devices. They use quantum mechanical phenomena to protect customer data. Today’s acquisition will extend IonQ’s cybersecurity portfolio to additional use cases.

Elisity offers a software platform that can automatically map out the devices in a corporate network. It spots employee workstations, servers and more specialized endpoints such as factory sensors. Elisity then collects technical data about each device. The platform can, for example, identify a system’s manufacturer and the users who access it.