Quantum tech (2025)

Quantum investment reached new heights in 2024, reflecting a maturing industry and a move from research to commercialisation for a number of companies.

VCs pumped $2.6bn globally into quantum technologies last year, a 58% increase from 2023, according to a report from QED-C, a US-based quantum consortium. This spending aims to deliver tech that will one day solve problems currently out of reach for traditional computers. If that sounds a little fuzzy, it’s because this is still an industry being built from the ground up. Quantum computers can’t do much right now: the limited size of quantum processors and high error rates significantly limit their power.

A handful of European companies have reached Series B level, including French companies Alice & Bob and Quandela and the UK's PQShield. There has been a flurry of acquisitions this year. UK startup Oxford Ionics was acquired by Maryland’s IonQ in a $1.1bn deal, while Pasqal this month bought Canada’s Aeponyx for an undisclosed sum.

Counting qubits — which are the quantum equivalent of bits in a normal computer — is an important gauge for how far the industry has come: the more qubits, the better. A handful of European companies have crossed the 100 qubit threshold, including Paris-based Pasqal and Finnish startup IQM. Others are getting near: UK company Quantinuum, for instance, is set to introduce a system with 96 qubits.

While quantum hasn’t reached its full theoretical potential, companies are already selling devices. IQM, for example, sells a 54-qubit quantum computer to large supercomputing centres for up to €30m. By the end of 2026, it wants to deliver the system to its first customer, Leibniz Superconducting Centre. The company also has a five-qubit quantum computer, which is sold to universities and research labs for up to €1m. Pasqal sold a 200 qubit quantum computer to Saudi oil and gas giant Aramco in 2024.

There are other ways to make money from quantum: aside from selling quantum computers, IQM runs two quantum data centres — one in Finland and one in Germany — and sells computer time to customers through the cloud on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Where next for the industry? IBM’s head of quantum, Jay Gambetta, recently told Sifted to look out for “quantum advantage” in the next two years: an industry term for the moment when a quantum computer beats a classical computer not only at simulating, but at solving an actual problem. “That’s a big deal,” he said.

European companies are up against very deep-pocketed rivals but “the race is still open,” Steve Brierley, boss of UK quantum company Riverlane, tells Sifted (see interview below). “However, without the infrastructure to scale, Europe risks being left behind.”