IonQ Confirms Plans to Acquire Skyloom
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov. 14, 2025 — IonQ has confirmed its plans to acquire Skyloom Global, a company specializing in optical communications systems for space-based quantum networks. The planned transaction is the latest in a flurry of acquisitions which will extend the company’s reach in the quantum market into networking and sensing. The capabilities add to IonQ's core competency in computing.
IonQ chairman and CEO Niccolò de Masi revealed the plans in an interview on CNBC Tuesday, saying that the acquisition will build on its investments in quantum networking and signals both terrestrially and in orbit. De Masi said on the network that the company is building a platform for quantum key distribution that includes both ground- and space-based technology.
IonQ entered an acquisitive spree in 2024 with the acquisition of quantum networking company Qubitekk, followed by an agreement for a controlling stake in ID Quantique, a developer of quantum-safe cryptography and sensing. IonQ then acquired photonic interconnect and quantum memory company Lightsynq, space-based quantum key distribution network developer Capella Space.
Founded in 2017, Skyloom is a developer of optical communications systems for a data transport network in space, leveraging small geostationary relay nodes to provide low-latency, high-capacity data transportation services. The company is positioning its optical-based relay systems as the backbone of a planetary-wide network to solve data transfer bottleneck of the Earth observation market, and others.
Skyloom has been working with the Space Development Agency, the Naval Research Laboratory, and has secured multiple SBIR awards and a contract with the U.S. Space Force. Other milestones include the launching of its first low-Earth orbit (LEO) optical communication terminal in 2023, and its first optical geostationary node the following year, allowing it to link LEO, geostationary orbit, and terrestrial infrastructure.
Additional IonQ acquisitions include those of Oxford Ionics, and, most recently, of Vector Atomic, a developer of quantum sensors for positioning, navigation, and timing applications. According to de Masi, the acquisitions together enable IonQ to establish an ecosystem bringing together computing, networking, and sensing technologies.
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