IonQ to Acquire Elisity for $1.3 Billion: Zero Trust Meets Post-Quantum Security

Under the agreement published by IonQ (opens in a new tab), IonQ will acquire Elisity in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion. Of that, up to $150 million is earnout opportunity "subject to performance of the Elisity business". The rest of the value is set in IonQ shares at closing, and the earnout is earned as the business performs inside IonQ.

A share price collar between $33.07 and $49.61

The number of IonQ shares issued is not fixed today. It will be calculated at closing from the volume weighted average price of IonQ common stock over the 20 trading days before, but not including, the third business day ahead of the closing date. That price is bounded: it will not be greater than $49.61 or less than $33.07 per share. Inside the collar, Elisity's holders receive a fixed dollar value in a variable number of shares; outside it, the share count is locked at the relevant end of the range.

A collar of this kind protects both sides from a sharp move in IonQ's stock between signing and closing. If IonQ shares rise above the top of the range, the share count stops falling, so Elisity's owners share in the upside. If they fall below the bottom, the share count stops rising, which caps dilution for IonQ's existing shareholders. For a buyer whose shares trade actively, it is a practical way to agree a dollar price today while paying in stock months later.

Up to $150 million tied to Elisity's performance

The earnout aligns the price with the growth story. Elisity has, in IonQ's words, a strong track record of doubling its revenue and its customer base year over year with zero churn among deployed customers. Linking up to $150 million to the business's performance after closing gives Elisity's team a direct stake in carrying that pace forward inside IonQ, and gives IonQ shareholders a price that rises only as the business delivers.

Elisity (opens in a new tab) helps enterprises advance Zero Trust security for users, devices, workloads, AI agents and other non-human identities. Its team, in the company's own description, has been designing, building, marketing and selling products in the network and security space for over 25 years, and its focus is making identity-based microsegmentation practical across enterprise, healthcare and industrial networks. Elisity has a global employee footprint and a growing number of customers in the Fortune 500.

The commercial profile is the headline. IonQ describes Elisity as a high-growth enterprise security business with significant recurring revenue and accelerating growth, a strong track record of doubling revenue and customers year over year, zero churn among deployed customers, more than 100 global customer deployments, and deep CISO and security community relationships. Elisity was also named a Cool Vendor in the Gartner Cool Vendors in Cyber-Physical Systems Security 2025.

IdentityGraph decides who and what can communicate

The product has two parts. Elisity IdentityGraph correlates identity, asset and risk information from native and partner sources to inform access decisions. Elisity's unified policy fabric, a software layer that operates independently of the underlying network technology, then uses the network itself to enforce those decisions. Teams can simulate policies first, then limit each identity to the communications it needs, which reduces the attack surface and contains an attack's spread across the network.

The design extends to AI. For AI agents, identity and session context informs access decisions, and Elisity's AI security direction rests on three priorities reflected in its participation in the Open Secure AI Alliance: least-privilege policies for sanctioned agents, containment of agentic attacks, and identification and control of unsanctioned AI.

Deployment in weeks, where older segmentation projects took years

Speed of deployment is Elisity's core argument with buyers. Winebrenner writes (opens in a new tab) that the platform builds on existing network and security investments and is designed to deploy in weeks without interrupting essential business operations, whereas earlier segmentation approaches can take years, in some cases a decade, and stall before full enforcement. That matters most in environments that cannot stop, and Elisity names life sciences, manufacturing, critical infrastructure and clinical healthcare networks among them.

Customer voices in the announcement come from exactly those sectors. Jason Elrod, CISO of MultiCare Health System, calls the combination a practical path forward for customers who need to modernise security while keeping care running. Michael Elmore, a Fortune 50 global CISO and Elisity design partner, says that across life sciences and critical infrastructure "Zero Trust and post-quantum cryptography belong in the same security strategy".

IonQ frames the case around two overlapping priorities for enterprises: containing attacks that operate at machine speed, and preparing to protect sensitive information against future quantum computers. Elisity addresses the first today; IonQ's PQC and QKD address the second. Combined, IonQ says, the companies will pair cryptographic protection for sensitive information and communications with identity-based controls that limit unauthorised access and the spread of attacks.

Harvest now, decrypt later turns quantum risk into a present risk

Winebrenner explains why the timing is now. Encrypted data collected today can be stored and decrypted in the future, a risk known as "harvest now, decrypt later". Preparation also extends to the cryptography behind authentication and digital signatures, which requires coordinated changes across applications, identity systems and infrastructure. That is a multiyear transition, and enterprises will run existing infrastructure alongside systems upgraded to post-quantum cryptography for years.

The roadmap is designed for that long middle period. The next phase would extend Elisity IdentityGraph with cryptographic inventory and risk information, connecting those findings to the identities, communications and business operations they affect. That context would help customers prioritise post-quantum upgrades by business risk and operational importance, and apply access policies as migration proceeds. Over time, the companies would pursue a self-healing Zero Trust policy that verifies approved access and corrects deviations within customer-defined guardrails.

Quantum-safe national networks in Switzerland, Poland, Romania and Slovakia

IonQ comes to the deal with its own security record. It has deployed some of the largest quantum-safe national communications networks in the world, including in Switzerland, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and serves customers with what it calls quantum-safe defence in depth, spanning quantum-safe posture management, QKD and PQC. In the second quarter it added ClavisXG Multiplex (opens in a new tab) to its quantum security portfolio, enabling physics-based key distribution on existing network infrastructure.

Policy is pushing in the same direction. IonQ ties the acquisition to the White House Executive Order of 22 June 2026, and notes that recent executive orders advance quantum innovation and accelerate the federal government's migration to PQC. Elisity, in turn, gives IonQ expanded channels to bring its PQC, QKD and quantum computing offerings to market for both enterprise and government networks, and opens up the more than $10 billion microsegmentation opportunity, which IonQ says is growing at a double-digit CAGR.

IonQ's case for the deal rests on customers buying more than one product. The company says customers are increasingly adopting multiple IonQ products and services, which drives growth in multiproduct revenue and provides evidence of demand for integrated solutions. In the second quarter of 2026, IonQ delivered 40% year-over-year growth in multiproduct revenue, and IonQ and Elisity expect opportunities to offer complementary security solutions to each other's customers, expand relationships with enterprise and government customers, and develop integrated offerings.

A record $80.1 million second quarter, up 287%

The buyer is growing fast. IonQ posted (opens in a new tab) record GAAP revenue of $80.1 million for the second quarter of 2026, a 287% year-on-year increase and 20% above the midpoint of its guidance range, in what de Masi called the fifth consecutive quarter of record results. International, commercial and multi-product revenue made up approximately 50%, 60% and 25% of the quarter's total, and remaining performance obligations grew 297% year on year.

IonQ raised its full-year 2026 revenue expectations to between $280 million and $290 million and continues to expect organic growth of 100% year on year; that outlook does not include any contribution from SkyWater. Cash, cash equivalents and investments were $3.0 billion at 30 June 2026, or $2.0 billion pro forma for the cash used to complete the SkyWater acquisition. Paying for Elisity in stock leaves that balance available for the roadmap.

Chief operating officer and chief financial officer Inder Singh described a revenue base that is "broadening in ways that reinforce its durability". Elisity adds a different kind of revenue to that base: significant recurring software revenue from enterprise security customers, with accelerating growth.

Both companies stress continuity. Following closing, Elisity will continue serving its customers under its current leadership, and Winebrenner confirms (opens in a new tab) that he will continue as CEO. IonQ describes its "demonstrated approach of investing in the critical technologies it acquires", and Winebrenner says Elisity's commitment to innovation, customer success and strong partner relationships "remains unchanged".

Partners are part of the plan. The companies intend to build on Elisity's ecosystem of complementary security products and services, connecting identity, detection and cryptographic discovery with policy enforcement. Technology and services partners would help customers assess cryptographic dependencies, plan migrations and test upgrades. For existing customers, the stated goal is to carry their identity context and policies forward as AI and post-quantum requirements evolve, preserving the value of their Elisity deployments.

SkyWater shows how IonQ runs what it buys

IonQ's most recent integration offers a template. When IonQ completed the SkyWater acquisition (opens in a new tab) on 31 July 2026, SkyWater shareholders received $15.00 in cash and 0.4883 IonQ shares per share, and SkyWater began operating as a subsidiary under its own name, led by its chief executive Thomas Sonderman reporting to de Masi, while continuing to serve all of its foundry customers. Elisity's plan follows the same pattern: the brand, the team and the customer commitments stay, while the capabilities plug into IonQ's platform.

IonQ has been building that platform steadily. Alongside SkyWater, the second quarter brought the acquisition of Nexus Photonics for integrated photonics, memoranda of understanding with Anduril and with Sandia National Laboratories on national security applications, and the Tennessee Quantum Communications Research Center with EPB. Elisity adds the enterprise security layer to a stack that now runs from chip fabrication to quantum networking.

Regulatory approval before a fourth-quarter close

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approval. The final share count will be set only at closing, from the 20-day VWAP inside the collar, so the number of new IonQ shares becomes known in the days before the deal completes.

Five milestones between signing and integration

• –Regulatory approval. The required clearance ahead of the expected fourth-quarter close.
• –The share count. The 20-day VWAP that fixes the number of new IonQ shares inside the $33.07 to $49.61 collar.
• –The first joint release. IdentityGraph extended with cryptographic inventory and risk information, as set out in the shared roadmap.
• –Joint selling. IonQ PQC and QKD offered to Elisity's 100+ deployments, and Elisity offered to IonQ's government networks.
• –The earnout. Elisity's performance against the up to $150 million earnout.