Will IonQ's Hardware Push Drive the Next Wave of Quantum Monetization?

IonQ, Inc. IONQ is gaining commercial traction through enterprise hardware sales, signaling scalable demand for quantum infrastructure. In the first quarter of 2025, the company closed a $22 million deal with EPB — marking a meaningful shift toward direct system monetization.The Forte Enterprise system, half of whose compute capacity was purchased by EPB, establishes Chattanooga as the first city to host both a quantum computer and a quantum network — both powered by IonQ technology. This integration reflects the company’s expanding role not just in quantum computing, but in delivering holistic infrastructure tailored for government, enterprise and research use cases.This deployment milestone underscores the scalability of IonQ’s platform beyond cloud-only access. The company is positioning itself as a provider of localized quantum compute capacity to support research ecosystems and sovereign AI development goals.  IonQ’s commercial momentum is supported by progress on its distributed computing architecture and photonic interconnect roadmap, bolstered by the acquisition of Lightsynq. With advanced quantum memory, frequency conversion IP and repeater capabilities, Lightsynq tech is expected to improve error rates and throughput, enhancing IonQ’s long-term system scalability.In parallel, the company is deepening its presence in global telecom and defense markets. Quantum networking initiatives are live in South Korea, Singapore and Tennessee, with IonQ supporting clients in sectors ranging from telecom to national security. The acquisition of Capella — a satellite communications and signals platform — also expands the company’s reach into the space-based quantum frontier.With enterprise-grade systems now in deployment, IonQ is beginning to shift from theoretical innovation to real-world execution. Its current focus on network integration and distributed quantum data centers positions the company to scale revenues and expand commercial relevance across industries.How It Stacks Up Against CompetitorsRigetti Computing, Inc. RGTI is approaching commercialization through a government-aligned, cloud-access model while continuing to invest in its quantum hardware roadmap. In the first quarter of 2025, Rigetti posted flat revenues of $3.1 million, primarily driven by service contracts and ongoing collaborations with U.S. federal agencies. Its Ankaa-1 system, which currently offers 84 qubits, is positioned as a stepping stone toward the more scalable Ankaa-2. Rigetti’s strategy centers on performance milestones and full-stack integration, with a focus on gate-model fidelity improvements and roadmap execution. However, its deployments remain confined to research and public sector pilot environments.D-Wave Quantum Inc. QBTS continues to leverage its annealing-based architecture to solve specialized optimization problems in logistics and manufacturing. In first-quarter 2025, the company reported revenues of $2.5 million, down 14% year over year, with activity centered on quantum-as-a-service offerings via its Leap cloud platform. D-Wave highlighted customer activity with QuantumBasel and new U.S. government engagements, including a project focused on mass transit optimization. While D-Wave is making early strides into gate-model development and hybrid solvers, its commercial traction is heavily tilted toward service-based pilot programs.IONQ’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of IONQ have surged 65.8% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 42.9%.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchFrom a valuation standpoint, IONQ trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 103.83, significantly above the industry’s average of 3.87.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for IONQ’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year uptick of 61.5%, while 2026 EPS reflects a decline of 12.2% year over year. The bottom-line estimates for 2025 have moved south in the past 30 days.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchIonQ stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 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(IONQ): Free Stock Analysis Report Rigetti Computing, Inc. (RGTI): Free Stock Analysis Report D-Wave Quantum Inc. (QBTS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks