In news that will excite everyone from technology enthusiasts to the investment community, the news that IonQ a creator of Quantum Computing technology using trapped Ions is headed for the public market will galvanise the quantum computing industry and possibly lead the way for the industry. As we have written previously, IonQ will hit the market via a SPAC or special purpose acquisition company. The startup IonQ has entered into a merger agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. III (the SPAC). The end result is that IonQ will be the first publicly traded pure-play quantum computing company.
IonQ is not the only Ion Trap technology in the market, Honeywell the technology giant that is also making headlines in the Ion Trap space. Additionally other start-ups such as Universal Quantum in the UK are also pioneering Ion traps for use as the fundamental unit of Quantum Computers: the Qubit.
Obviously at Quantum Zeitgeist we think Quantum is the future and are excited about the future of Quantum Computing whatever form the Qubit takes. It is going to be exciting to see what technology wins out in the race to get to scale. But let’s say that we have seen some really exciting developments in the Ion Trap space. Especially with massively capitalised companies such as Psi Quantum who are also working on rolling out a massive number of Ion Trap qubits for researchers and developers to exploit.
At Zapata, we are strong believers in the team and the technology. Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim have been pioneers in the ion trap space since its academic infancy. Ion trap technology provides an advantage for certain application areas (e.g., generative modeling), and IonQ’s device (as well as other ion traps) has enabled some of our most promising recent results.
Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata Computing, Partner of IonQ
The deal will result in $650m in gross proceeds, including a $350m PIPE with participation from funds such as Fidelity, Silver Lake, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, MSD Partners, Hyundai Motor and Kia, according to reports. Certainly investors have gotten excited and have been buying the SPAC company – dMYIII and despite volatility over the last few days the share price has risen.
Read more about the latest development from IonQ.