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IBM Acquires HRL Labs to Advance Silicon-Spin Qubit Engineering

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July 23, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

IBM has signed an agreement to acquire HRL Laboratories, a research and development institution jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors, in a move that ensures continued collaboration with both companies post-acquisition. HRL’s specialization in silicon-spin qubits aligns with IBM’s existing work in superconducting qubits, reflecting a strategic focus on scalable quantum technologies. This acquisition will extend IBM’s quantum computing mission, encompassing processing power, quantum sensing, and networking. “The HRL team will help IBM push even farther forward toward the frontiers of quantum innovation,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM’s Director of Research and IBM Fellow. IBM anticipates HRL’s breakthroughs will fuel its quantum program for decades, driving advancements in materials science and sensor technology.

HRL’s Silicon-Spin Qubits Enhance IBM Quantum Computing Mission

Boeing and General Motors retain a stake in the future of quantum technology despite selling HRL Laboratories to IBM; both companies will continue collaborative partnerships with IBM focused on quantum applications and advanced technological development following the acquisition. This continuation of collaboration signals a shared long-term vision for quantum computing extending beyond competitive pressures and demonstrates confidence in IBM’s ability to translate HRL’s research into practical advancements. HRL’s core competency lies in silicon-spin qubits, a technology that aligns with IBM’s existing work utilizing superconducting qubits because both rely on sophisticated silicon fabrication techniques. This shared foundation provides a pathway toward scaling quantum technologies, offering complementary approaches to building more powerful and stable quantum processors. IBM’s acquisition of HRL Laboratories is expected to significantly bolster its quantum computing program, particularly in qubit engineering.

HRL’s expertise will complement IBM’s existing superconducting qubit architectures, potentially unlocking new avenues for scaling and improving performance. The acquisition extends beyond computing to include innovations in quantum sensors, capable of detecting subtle physical phenomena for applications in life sciences, navigation, defense, and fundamental scientific research. HRL has also developed novel quantum materials with the potential to improve semiconductors and enhance sensor sensitivity, optimizing the performance and scalability of quantum technologies.

The HRL team will help IBM push even farther forward toward the frontiers of quantum innovation.

Jay Gambetta, Director of Research and IBM Fellow at IBM
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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