Quantum computing has lengthy been introduced as “simply across the nook,” however a number of firms are actually decided to make this a business actuality, with the promise of fixing complicated issues past classical computer systems’ attain.
The issues in query are wide-ranging, from drugs and cybersecurity to supplies science and chemistry. However first, there are very sensible issues to be solved, equivalent to growing chips that may reliably host giant numbers of qubits — quick for quantum bits, the basic unit of data in quantum computing.
As ordinary in a high-stakes tech race with an unsure time horizon, tech giants equivalent to Google and Microsoft are on the forefront. But startups are additionally set to play an necessary position, particularly tackling bottlenecks like connectivity and error correction which can be vital for scaling quantum methods.
However some startups and smaller tech firms are taking up the chip problem head-on and deserve point out alongside the extra attention-grabbing efforts from trade giants. Whereas Huge Tech initiatives usually boast the very best qubit counts, rethinking designs from first ideas and utilizing completely different approaches may yield equally promising outcomes.
Listed below are among the firms behind the principle quantum chip initiatives which can be value monitoring.
Akhetonics
Akhetonics is a German photonics startup engaged on an all-optical, general-purpose chip — a contrarian wager in a subject the place most concentrate on narrower functions. This daring model and its first-principles method helped the corporate increase a €6 million seed funding spherical led by Matterwave Ventures in November 2024.
Alice & Bob
Alice & Bob is a French startup that raised a $104 million Sequence B spherical of funding in January 2025 to proceed working towards constructing a “fault tolerant” quantum laptop.
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Not like firms focusing solely on chips, Alice & Bob is growing a full quantum computing system. To take action, it depends on cat qubits, a sort of superconducting qubit designed to cut back errors and simplify error correction.
Amazon
Amazon formally joined the quantum chip race in early 2025 when AWS launched Ocelot, developed in partnership with the California Institute of Know-how. Whereas that is the corporate’s first quantum chip, AWS had beforehand launched Braket, a quantum computing service, in partnership with D-Wave, IonQ, Rigetti, and others.
Atom Computing
Atom Computing is a U.S. firm constructing quantum computer systems with arrays of optically trapped impartial atoms.
On the Microsoft Ignite 2024 convention, Microsoft and Atom Computing introduced plans to launch a business quantum laptop in 2025.
D-Wave
D-Wave is a quantum computing firm whose newest flagship system, the Advantage2 prototype, depends on a course of known as quantum annealing, which makes use of quantum physics to search out probably the most steady, lowest-energy preparations of components to determine the very best combine for a given drawback.
Based in 1999 as a by-product from the College of British Columbia in Canada, D-Wave is now a public firm listed on the NYSE.
EeroQ
Illinois-based EeroQ is a startup betting on helium for its quantum chip design. Having raised a $7.25 million seed funding spherical in 2022 and acquired regional public help, the corporate made a $1.1 million dedication in September 2024 towards expanding its HQ in Chicago’s Humboldt Park.
Fujitsu and RIKEN
In April 2025, Fujitsu and Japanese analysis establishment RIKEN introduced having developed a 256-qubit superconducting quantum computer on the RIKEN RQC-FUJITSU Collaboration Heart, up from a 64-qubit iteration in 2023.
In December 2024, Google announced Willow, its newest quantum computing chip.
Google didn’t cease at saying Willow was higher than its predecessor, Sycamore, or at describing it as “a significant breakthrough in quantum error correction.” In a press release that made headlines, Google Quantum AI founder Hartmut Neven wrote that Willow’s efficiency lent “credence to the notion that quantum computation happens in lots of parallel universes.”
IBM
IBM’s quantum efforts embrace Condor, its milestone superconducting chip for scaling as much as 1,121 qubits, and Heron, a 156-qubit processor centered on improved efficiency and decrease error charges.
Infleqtion
Based in 2007, Infleqtion (previously ColdQuanta) is a US-based firm growing quantum computer systems primarily based on impartial atom know-how.
Intel
Intel is growing quantum computer systems primarily based on silicon spin qubits. In June 2023, it unveiled Tunnel Falls, a 12-qubit analysis chip, and mentioned a next-generation quantum chip primarily based on Tunnel Falls was anticipated to be launched in 2024, however this hasn’t occurred.
IonQ
IonQ is a publicly listed U.S. firm growing trapped-ion quantum computer systems, together with the IonQ Forte. After going public via a SPAC in late 2021, it acquired Canadian networking specialist Entangled Networks.
IQM
IQM is a Finnish startup constructing superconducting quantum computer systems and is a spinout of the Aalto College and VTT Technical Analysis Centre of Finland. It acquired funding in its early days from the Enterprise Finland authorities company, adopted by further help from the EIC Accelerator program.
In 2022, IQM raised €128 million in Sequence A2 funding led by World Fund, including to the €39 million led by MIG Fonds it had raised in 2020 as a part of what was then its Sequence A. This second tranche included a part of a beforehand introduced €35 million enterprise mortgage from the European Funding Financial institution, in addition to participation from the EIC Fund and others.
Microsoft
In February 2025, Microsoft introduced Majorana, a quantum chip utilizing a topological core architecture. Microsoft beforehand declared that it anticipated to construct a quantum supercomputer inside 10 years.
Oxford Ionics
As its identify suggests, Oxford Ionics is a British startup that spun out of Oxford College and focuses on trapped-ion quantum computing.
It raised a £30 million Sequence A (roughly $36 million) in early 2023, adopted by an additional £2 million (roughly €2.32 million) from the UK’s Nationwide Safety Strategic Funding Fund (NSSIF) that very same 12 months. Extra lately, it was chosen for DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) alongside Quantinuum.
Pasqal
Pasqal is a French startup taking a full-stack method to quantum computing and betting on impartial atoms. The corporate emerged out of the Institut d’Optique in 2019, and its co-founders embrace 2022 Nobel Prize laureate for physics and professor Alain Facet.
In February 2023, Pascal raised a €100 million Sequence B funding spherical led by Singapore’s Temasek, with participation from present buyers Quantonation, the Protection Innovation Fund, Daphni, and Eni Subsequent, in addition to new buyers European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Wa’ed Ventures, and Bpifrance (by its Giant Enterprise Fund).
PsiQuantum
PsiQuantum is a quantum computing startup utilizing photonics know-how and aiming to construct “a 1 million-quantum-bit machine.” In February 2025, it announced Omega, a quantum photonic chipset manufactured at GlobalFoundries in New York.
In 2021, PsiQuantum landed a $450 million Sequence D funding led by BlackRock, which is now mentioned to be main a potential $750 million round into the corporate at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. Based by Australian lecturers, it is usually backed by the Australian and Queensland governments.
Qilimanjaro
Qilimanjaro is a Spanish startup specializing in analog quantum app-specific built-in circuits (QASICs) and taking a full-stack method, together with {hardware}, software program, and functions.
Based mostly in Barcelona, it gained the 4 Years From Now startup competitors at Cellular World Congress in 2024, happening to obtain €1.5 million in funding from Catalonia later that 12 months.
Quandela
Quandela is a French startup based in 2017 to develop photonic quantum computer systems.
In November 2023, Quandela raised a €50 million Series B and acquired help from the French authorities by the France 2030 Plan.
Quantinuum
Quantinuum is a quantum computing firm formed in 2021 by the merger of Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell Quantum Options. Its flagship product is the H-Sequence of trapped-ion quantum computer systems. In April 2024, along with Microsoft, it introduced a breakthrough in error correction.
QuantWare
QuantWare is a Dutch startup that got here up with a proprietary 3D chip structure, VIO, which focuses on scaling bottlenecks in quantum processing items (QPUs). It began accepting preorders for Contralto-A, its first QPU for quantum error correction, in February 2025.
Based in 2020, it’s a spinout of TU Delft and its affiliated analysis institute, QuTech. In March 2025, and following a €6 million seed spherical in 2023, it introduced having raised a €20 million Sequence A (roughly $19.27 million) — together with €5 million in fairness out of the €7.5 million it previously secured from the European Innovation Council (the rest is a grant).
QuEra
Boston-based QuEra is betting on impartial atoms because the “finest method to realize large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer systems.” Its merchandise embrace Aquila, a 256-qubit analog neutral-atom quantum laptop launched in 2022 and accessible through Amazon Braket.
QuEra is notably backed by Google, which led the $230 debt spherical that the quantum startup raised in February 2025 — with a convertible notice additionally backed by SoftBank, Valor, and present buyers.
Rigetti Computing
Based in 2013 by Chad Rigetti, Rigetti Computing is a quantum firm specializing in superconducting know-how. Its vary of merchandise embrace Ankaa-3 and the uppcoming 336-qubit Lyra system.
Similar to rivals D-Wave and IonQ, Rigetti Computing is a listed firm; it raised just below $200 million in VC capital earlier than going public through a SPAC in 2021.
In February 2025, it signed a strategic partnership with Taiwan-based Quanta Laptop, which is about to take a position $35 million and buy shares of Rigetti, whereas each firms make investments greater than $100 million every over the subsequent 5 years to speed up the event and commercialization of superconducting quantum computing.
SEEQC
U.S. quantum startup SEEQC — an acronym for “scalable, vitality environment friendly quantum computing” — is a spinout of chip firm Hypres, which was itself established by former staff of IBM’s superconducting electronics division.
In 2023, SEEQC introduced a partnership with Nvidia to construct an “all-digital, ultra-low-latency chip-to-chip hyperlink between quantum computer systems and GPUs.”
In January 2025, SEEQC raised a $30 million spherical of funding co-led by Booz Allen Ventures and Japanese-European VC agency NordicNinja.
Different backers embrace Merck’s company enterprise capital arm, M Ventures. SEEQC is main the U.Ok.-supported QuPharma mission to discover how quantum computing can speed up drug discovery, in partnership with BASF and Merck.
SpinQ
SpinQ is a Chinese language startup based in 2018 that develops quantum computer systems. It claims that a few of them are portable and making use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
Xanadu
Xanadu is a Canadian startup aiming to construct quantum computer systems by a photonic method. In January 2025, it introduced Aurora, a 12-qubit system, together with 35 photonic chips.
Based in 2016, Xanadu raised some $275 million so far, together with a $100 million Series C in November 2022 at a $1 billion valuation.
This story was initially printed on April 28, 2025 and will likely be recurrently up to date.