IonQ to buy zero-trust security firm Elisity in deal valued at up to $1.3 billion

IonQ announced Monday that it will acquire Elisity, a zero-trust network security firm, in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion. This move folds enterprise access control into the quantum computing company’s expanding cybersecurity business. Both companies confirmed the deal was signed as a definitive agreement on Monday.

Up to $150 million of that amount is earnout consideration, contingent on how Elisity’s business performs. The number of IonQ shares issued will depend on the price over 20 trading days ending shortly before closing. This price will be kept between $33.07 and $49.61 per share.

Founded in 2019, Elisity sells a software policy layer that governs which users, devices, workloads and AI agents can communicate across a network. It operates independent of the underlying network technology based on least-privilege policies. The company says it has no churn among its deployed customers.

IonQ says Elisity has more than 100 global deployments, including hospitals and healthcare firms among its main customers. Sales and customer counts have doubled year over year according to the company. A growing number of Fortune 500 firms are also using its tools.

Maryland-based IonQ is building a security arm around post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution technologies. These tools are intended to replace or supplement encryption that future quantum computers may be able to break. IonQ Chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi stated that Q-Day is arriving sooner than expected.

Both governments and the technology industry have accelerated their timelines to adopt post-quantum cryptography over the past few years. The Trump administration recently issued an executive order directing federal agencies to move up internal migration timelines for encryption from 2035 to 2030. Other companies like Google have opted to move their own migration timelines to 2029.

Elisity’s planned role in that transition is to connect identity data to cryptographic decision-making. Its roadmap would extend its IdentityGraph product with cryptographic inventory and risk information. This allows customers to rank post-quantum upgrades by business risk rather than just technical necessity.

The deal also reflects how AI agents are reshaping network security as non-human identities become subjects of access policy. Elisity has joined the Open Secure AI Alliance with priorities that include least-privilege rules for sanctioned agents. These rules aim for containment of agentic threats and control of unsanctioned AI within networks.

IonQ is the biggest listed firm that only does quantum. It bought chipmaker SkyWater for $1.8bn in January and UK startup Oxford Ionics for $1.1bn last year. The company has also built quantum-safe national networks in Switzerland, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Once the deal is completed, James Winebrenner and Elisity’s existing management team will remain in charge of the business. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Both leaders agreed that customers need to prioritize post-quantum cryptography initiatives while securing existing assets.