Intel buys Classiq to become full-stack quantum computing provider

Intel is to buy Classiq, a  provider of quantum computing software.

The combination of Classiq’s synthesis platform with Intel’s spin-qubit manufacturing and existing software would create a user-friendly full-stack quantum computing platform, enabling the  technology to mature into a mainstream computing business.

More than forty years ago, the invention of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and Computer‑Aided Design (CAD) software transformed silicon chip design and classical computing by providing a common software platform that could abstract the ability to design chips from the complexity of the underlying hardware.

Classiq plays a similar role in quantum computing, providing a unifying software platform that is agnostic to the underlying qubit modality and hardware. Providing this high-level abstraction enables quantum computing to scale beyond custom hand-crafted circuits and applications to become a mainstream computing platform.

Classiq’s synthesis platform brings complementary assets to Intel’s already strong quantum hardware and software capabilities developed over the last decade.

Since 2015, Intel has been investing in the development of quantum computing, and claims to be the only company capable of producing qubit chips and complex cryogenic control electronics at-scale, using equipment and processes common to conventional silicon-based semiconductor manufacturing.