New York, May 22, 2026, 05:05 (EDT)
IonQ Inc. stock jumped 12.24% to $58.89 at the close Thursday as quantum-computing names caught a bid after reports of new federal funding. That move topped the wider market, with the Dow up 0.55%, S&P 500 up 0.17%, and Nasdaq rising 0.09%.
Commerce on Monday said it plans $2.013 billion in incentives for two U.S. quantum foundries and seven quantum-computing firms, focusing on “fault-tolerant” quantum systems that can still operate with errors. Quantum computers use qubits that hold multiple states. Companies named for the incentives include IBM, GlobalFoundries, Atom Computing, Diraq, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum and Rigetti. IonQ was not on the list. NIST
IonQ ended up in a weird spot. Its shares moved up with quantum peers, even though the funding checks went straight to rivals. Reuters said IBM landed $1 billion, GlobalFoundries took $375 million, and D-Wave, Rigetti, and Infleqtion each got about $100 million. Infleqtion CEO Matthew Kinsella told Reuters the awards showed “quantum computing is coming much faster than anybody thinks.” Reuters
IonQ reported support of its own. The company said first-quarter revenue jumped to $64.7 million, up 755% from a year ago, and it lifted its full-year revenue forecast to $260 million to $270 million. IonQ also reported $470 million in remaining performance obligations—not yet recognized, contracted revenue—but projected an adjusted EBITDA loss between $330 million and $310 million. Adjusted EBITDA excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and some other costs.
But there are some weak spots in the trade. D.A. Davidson analyst Alex Platt told Reuters this month that investors still had “skepticism” about the “viability of the technology” and IonQ’s use of trapped-ion qubits, which rely on charged atoms run by lasers and electromagnetic fields. CEO Niccolo de Masi told Reuters “profitability is not a key focus this year.” He said IonQ is focusing on revenue growth and research spending. Reuters
IonQ has been working to prove it can scale up its science into actual production. On May 12, the company said it opened a 22,000-square-foot quantum R&D and chip-testing facility in Boulder, Colorado. IonQ expects to have its first quantum computer fully installed there later this year. De Masi said IonQ is “excited to tap into” Boulder’s talent pool as it expands. IonQ
SkyWater Technology is moving forward after stockholders cleared the merger with IonQ, according to a May 8 filing. Around 67% of shares took part in the meeting, with 32.6 million shares backing the merger agreement. The deal would turn SkyWater into a wholly owned IonQ unit via a two-step merger.
IonQ is moving higher but the setup isn’t as clear as Thursday. There’s a stronger sales outlook, talks for a foundry deal, and momentum, yet investors face new challenges as rivals pick up direct federal support. There are regulatory and integration issues tied to SkyWater, and commercial plans for quantum are still uncertain. U.S. stocks were set for regular trading on Friday. The NYSE will close for Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, according to .
