Quantum News Nexus

A whole bunch of news from around the industry:

IBM announced another System Two deployment, this time in Switzerland. IBM is working with Lockheed Martin and Swiss research institute ETH Zurich to launch a quantum innovation hub in Switzerland that will be anchored by an IBM Quantum System Two to be deployed at ETH’s Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano.

The system will be ready to get to work later this year. IBM and ETH Zurich have a longstanding quantum research partnership under which the ETH folks have had cloud-based access to previous IBM systems and processors, but this will be the first on-premise IBM system for them. It is not the first quantum computer in Switzerland, as quantum-AI research group QuantumBasel has an IonQ Tempo system in Arlesheim (any others I’m forgetting?)

The IBM System Two uses the Nighthawk processor, which was announced late last year. The Switzerland deployment also marks a new phase in the ongoing partnership between IBM and Lockheed Martin, as the two firms are planning two joint development projects, one of which will explore quantum sensing applications for navigation, while the other focuses on the improvement of additive manufacturing of metallic alloys. 

Suddenly, we have two big partnerships between FPGA makers and quantum companies: FPGA maker Altera has partnered with Riverlane. From the press release: “Through the partnership, Riverlane has validated its QEC Interface (QECi) design example on an Altera Agilex 7 FPGA. The device’s high-speed transceivers enable the fast, low-latency data movement required between quantum control and error-correction systems. Riverlane has published the design example in its open-source QECi repository on GitHub, giving developers a starting point for evaluating QEC data movement and integration with Agilex FPGA-based quantum control systems.”

Also, AMD, which has an FPGA unit, has partnered with Xanadu. FPGAs are known for low latency and deterministic qualities in applications like IoT and automotive systems, and it makes a lot of sense to bring those capabilities to quantum processors to accelerate error correction and other functions.

SEALSQ reported first-half 2026 revenue growth of 131% over the first half of 2025. This year’s mark was $11.2 million, compared to revenue of $4.8 million for the same period last year. About $5.6 million of that revenue-50%–came from North America, which might mean that its whole “Quantum Made in USA” expansion strategy is taking hold. The firm has a location in Colorado, and also has invested in Chicago-based EeroQ, although those are US-specific moves, and perhaps some of this revenue is coming from elsewhere in North America (Canada and Mexico not being part of the US, of course…)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology reported on some quantum sensing research. They developed an array of quantum sensors that “measured the confounding X-ray emissions from plutonium, uranium and neptunium (a nuclear decay product of uranium) with unprecedented accuracy,” NIST stated. “This achievement allows scientists to filter out the X-ray background noise so they can more precisely evaluate the accumulation of nuclear materials.”

IonQ is increasing its 2026 full-year revenue outlook as a result of its recently closed SkyWater Technology acquisition. The new expected revenue range is between $450 million and $460 million, putting IonQ within sight of becoming the first half-billion-dollar quantum company. The new figure is up from the previous range of between $280 million and $290 million. SkyWater is expected to add roughly $240 million in revenue to IonQ coffers from the Aug. 1 closing date on, though to arrive at the new outlook range, IonQ subtracted $70 million from that estimate that IonQ itself will contribute to SkyWater revenue under previous business agreements. The raised guidance is just one of several announcements IonQ made at its Investor Day event earlier this week.

Infleqtion and Cisco Systems partnered to work on quantum networking efforts to scale distributed quantum computing systems. Though Infleqtion has worked in quantum networking, a lot of that expertise in this case could come from Cisco, which has been getting increasingly involved in the sector over the past couple of years.

 “Achieving the broadest applications of quantum computing will require many quantum systems working together. The path forward is connecting these systems together the same way the internet emerged from connecting many classical computers,” said Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer at Infleqtion. “That’s why this collaboration matters. Together, Infleqtion and Cisco are exploring how to connect quantum computers and sensors together into larger, more powerful quantum networks, which is a critical step toward unlocking distributed quantum.”

Image source: IBM

Quantum News Nexus is a site from freelance writer and editor Dan O’Shea that covers quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum networking, quantum-safe security, and more. You can find him on X @QuantumNewsGuy and doshea14@gmail.com.