IonQ to Set Up European Data Center with QuantumBasel, Increase 2023 Order Forecast, and Make Forte Systems Available to the Public

ionQ made three announcements today signaling progress in developing its technology and expanding access to a wider customer base. The first announcement is a collaboration to co-found a European quantum data center QuantumBasel, an international competency center for Industry 4.0 located near Basel, Switzerland. The agreement will cover IonQ establishing an EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) quantum innovation center at its uptownBasel QuantumBasel location along with the installation of two IonQ processors. The first processor is expected to be installed around 2024 with the performance level #AQ35 and the second one with the performance rating #AQ 64 is installed to replace the first machine in the future. IonQ will service European customers from this shared data center, once the machines are installed and operational.

IonQ will book a 2023 order of 25 million CHF ($28M USD) for this project. Revenue will be recorded in subsequent years as the project progresses. This order will help IonQ increase its 2023 order forecast to $45 – $55 million from the previous $38 – $42 million which will approximately double the $24.5 million in orders IonQ achieves in 2022. IonQ’s 2023 revenue forecast is unchanged from its previous estimate by $18.8 million to the $19.2 million they made in their Q1 2023 earnings report last month.

The third announcement from IonQ is their newest machine, codenamed Forte now available to customers worldwide via direct access in the IonQ cloud. Forte has 32 qubits and a performance size of #AQ 29. This is a higher level of performance than the previous generation Aria machine that has a performance rating of #AQ 25. The Forte achieves increased performance through the use of an acousto-optic deflector (AOD) for the beam steering which provides more precise control of the laser beam while providing the flexibility to make calibration adjustments in software.

While the previous generation IonQ engine, Aria, is also available through IonQ’s cloud partners including AWS Braket, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, the Forte is not yet available through these cloud systems. So for now, users who want to work with Forte on the IonQ cloud system will have to register at https://ionq.com/get-access.

For additional information about IonQ’s collaboration with QuantumBasel, you can see the press release posted by IonQ Here and a second press release provided by QuantumBasel Here. A press release from IonQ regarding the revised 2023 ordering forecast is available Here. And finally, IonQ’s press release announcing that the Forte machine is available for public access can be seen Here along with a blog article containing additional information about the Forte engine Here.

June 22, 2023